


Heart of Hearts

by teapotscandal, XanderB



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angry Eren Yeager, Angst, Armor, Asshole Grisha Yeager, Centaur Jean Kirstein, Centaurs, Courtship, Dragon Riders, Dragon!Levi, Dragons, Elves, Frottage, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Sex, King Grisha Yeager, M/M, Mates, Medieval Medicine, Miscommunication, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poisoning, Prince!Eren, Princes & Princesses, Shapeshifting, Smut, Soul Bond, Sword Fighting, Swords, War, fae, inspired by dragon heart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 14:45:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13615581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teapotscandal/pseuds/teapotscandal, https://archiveofourown.org/users/XanderB/pseuds/XanderB
Summary: There was once a pact between dragon and king in the northern kingdom where dragons lived at peace with human and creature alike. Alas, peace did not last and the old ways were lost to greed and power. King Grisha and his father before him waged war on the dragons, with no regard for hatchlings or old ones alike, and slayed them remorselessly for their hides. Though the dragons fought back fiercely and took as many and more mortal lives in retaliation, they were too few to withstand the tenacity of human beings. Only a handful remain, living in fear and in disgrace, existing in a world that has no place left for them.When the heir apparent, Eren Jaeger, is brought to the scaled witch in the briar wood to beg for his life, a new pact is formed. Levi, one of the last living dragons of legend, offers to spare Eren’s life in return for his promise to be a fair, just, and selfless king. But Eren grew into a selfish, arrogant, righteously angry young man now bent on revenge for the murder of his mother. Eren does not deserve the life Levi had so graciously given him, but there’s an honesty in him that is unmistakable. Maybe knowing his heart is not his own will change him. And maybe Levi will change with him.





	1. Verse I: Myth

**Author's Note:**

> Introducing, Teapot and Xander's much anticipated submission to Ereri Big Bang 2017!!!
> 
> This took us for-fucking-everrrr. A lot of blood sweat and tears went into the writing of this. It was an incredible learning experience even if we were both completely burnt out on writing after reaching the word count.
> 
> We'd like to thank our incredibly talented artists, Atropellado-por-la-vida and morebeesthanyoucouldimagine, for working with us and making our vision come to life. 
> 
> Check out their art, here and here.
> 
> Enjoy<3

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/142844498@N04/40157534041/in/dateposted-public/)

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/142844498@N04/39258767505/in/dateposted-public/)

The sconces on the wall lit up the damp cave and made the quartz littering the walls glitter eerily, the only sound, the crackle of flame and vague drip of water trickling further within the cavern. The minutes drew on that way until the low rumble of hoofbeats thundered in the distance, vibrations climbing miles and making aware the previously silent occupants of the cave. A lilting hum began, gaining volume as the throbbing of the approaching horses did, rising and falling hauntingly, a siren’s song that drew in the dark ominous clouds, full of rebirth, the roiling of thunder and arching plumes of lightning that lit up the jagged gaping maw of the dwelling. Onyx scale shimmered and reflected the oily firelight as the ethereal melody came to a crescendo peaked in the cracking of the sky overhead and the pouring of the new life from within; in the shadows, the black dragon stirred.

The Queen rode with abandon, tearing her way across the country side, faster than the knights that were supposed to be her escort. She rode her draft horse hard, striking her flank when the woman felt the mare slow; but to what, she did not know. No, she knew nothing of the scaled witch she was desperate to reach, except of the growth that marred a once beautiful face and the power that Carla was desperate to gain. Not for herself did she wish this power, no. It was for something much more precious.

A small cough was audible to the Queen beneath the thunder of the hooves, forcing the woman to look down at the bundle she carried in her arms. “Shhhh… it'll be fine sweetling,” she cooed at the fussing lump, “You are safe with Mama… Just a little longer… Stay awake for Mama…”

“'M tired,” a weak voice of a child answered, his body too still and the hands that reached out too cold. Out of everything, the chill scared Carla the most. Life held warmth, and her son, her little princeling was losing the fire the woman held so dear.

“Yes I know my love,” Carla answered, gathering the boy even closer and squeezed her legs to push the mare impossibly faster, “But you must stay awake. Stay with me, Eren… Stay with your Mama…”

“Oh-...kay,” the boy breathed, green eyes peeking out beneath the blanket and staying fixed on the honeyed brown gaze above him. It was hard to listen to his mother's command, but Eren was a strong little boy, no matter his ailment. He would stay awake for his Mama for as long as he could.

Carla looked back to call out, “How much farther?” to Sir Hannes riding closest to her, her desperation almost palpable in the air surrounding the group.

“Down the hill and through the woods, my Lady! The cave will be there at the bottom of the mountain,” he answered immediately, trying to catch up, but failing as Carla forced her horse even faster into the shadow of the lonely mountain that rose high above them. “My lady! Wait! You mustn't go alone!” he called again, “My lady!”

Carla paid no heed to her knight’s warning, racing down the hill and through the forest, the scenery a blur as she rode. It wasn't until the mountain suddenly rose before her and the black gaping maw that was the witch’s cave come into view that she slowed. A stroke of fear stabbed her heart as she stared into the caves abyss and she was frozen until her beloved steed suddenly spooked, rearing on its hind legs and throwing Carla and her bundle to the ground to run in the opposite direction.

The hard fall was just what she needed to awaken it seemed, for the second her rolling body came to a halt she got up from where she landed on the mossy ground. The queen didn't even pause to dust off her cloak and dress or inspect the tears; she just scrambled to her feet to sprint into the cave without the company of her protectors. “Hello?” she called into the blackness of the cave ahead of her, trying not to stumble on the uneven ground as she cradled her son closer to her heart, “Is anyone there?”

“You’re not alone child,” came the eerily melodic and lovely response from the darkness, “Step closer. Don’t be frightened.”

“Are… Are you the scaled witch?” Carla asked, trying to calm the tremor in her voice as she clutched her son closer to her chest. She couldn't see in the darkness, and her reluctance was evident in the way her body tensed; instincts begging the queen to flee.

“I am…” Kuchel purred as she shifted in the shadows, running a soothing hand along her son’s scaled side fondly. With a wave of her hand, she beckoned the Queen closer to them and the smoldering torches ignited with new life at the movement, casting warmth and flickering light through the cavern.

“I know why you’ve come,” the serpentine witch continued without hesitance, “Bring the babe into the light. For that which you seek, I must know his heart.” She patted Levi’s side twice, gliding around him as he shifted in the deeper shadows of the cave, the barest flickers of colour dancing like oil on water as onyx scale caught the firelight. The woman came forward with outstretched and imploring hands, waiting for the other woman to make her decision. Step boldly or cower and flee. Either would cost her; she need only decide which price held more worth.

Just as Carla was about to step forward without hesitation, the smell of dragon hit her and froze her entire body. Fear like she never felt before swept through her body and choked her, turning her muscles into stone. All she could think of was fleeing the scent of the predator, until a little voice called to her from her arms, completely unafraid and unaffected.

“Mama?” Eren said, head poking out from beneath the blankets, startled by the unbridled fear he saw on his mother's face. “Don't worry! I'll-… I'll protect you from the monster! You don't have to be afraid,” he said weakly, trying to lift himself up in her arms, but failing in his frailty.

“Shush now my love… There are no monsters,” Carla cooed with a strained smile down at her child, voice cracking with the tears that had begun to form. “This woman is going to help you, you'll feel all better in just a moment!” she added, then looked up to the witch and gathered her courage to step forward towards the woman and the beast covered by the darkness although her body was shaking uncontrollably. “My son is ill… They said… the maesters said that it is his heart and there is no saving him,” she lamented to the witch, lifting the boy from her arms towards the woman. “I need your help… I need you to save my child,” Carla said, brown eyes lifting to look into molten silver, “I will give you anything that you want… Anything that I can… save my boy… Save the prince!”

“It is not you that has anything of worth to us, but the child does,” Kuchel said, taking the boy child from his mother’s hold, her own as familiar and tender as Carla’s. She looked down at him, cradling him with one arm while she brushed cool fingertips over his feverishly clammy forehead. His heart was fluttering anxiously, stumbling and tripping over its own beat, and so weak, it would soon run itself out.

“Shh, slow down now little tempest,” she cooed, her touch soothing the painful tightness from his breast and calming his rattling shallow breaths. She stroked his cheek with a smooth scaled fingertip, “Do you wish to live sweetling?”

Bright eyes blinked up at the woman for one moment, taking in the witch’s appearance. “You're pretty,” he said after a moment, still wheezing but lifting his small hand to touch the scales that grew on the side of her face. Petting her cheek delicately, his brows furrowed as he considered the question. “Mama will be sad if I died… I've been trying my best…” he said, hand falling down limply as his strength failed him, “Dada told me only the strong survive… And though _hah_ I tried… I'm not… not strong… not strong like Dada…”

“Don't listen to him…” Carla cried in panic, stepping forward in haste, speaking to both the witch and Eren, “He's only a babe! He doesn't know what he's saying!”

“I’m a big boy now!” Eren answered, struggling to lift his head to look at his Mother, “I’m-... I'm not afraid to die!” he said, though his lip was quivering and his bright green eyes were filling with tears, “I'm not a coward! Dada… Dada said I'm to go to God because I'm not strong-”

“He’s wrong! You are strong!” Carla yelled, voice echoing off the cavern walls, turning towards Kuchel as she fell to her knees, begging, “You cannot listen to him! He knows not of what he speaks! You must save my boy! He's only a child, please!”

“Do not interfere. Let the child speak. I’ll know his truths,” Kuchel hissed warningly, looking down at Carla with compassion for a drawn moment before she turned her attention from the weeping Queen back to her son. “You are brave to not fear death little tempest, but are you brave enough to live? Your father is full of greed and ignorance. You must promise you will not follow in his footsteps; vow that you will be an honest, just, and fair king. Promise you will seek the old ways and remember them, that you will know humility and honour. That is the promise you must make if you wish to share of a dragon’s heart and live beyond the rising of the sun. Do you understand child?”

“He's too young, he will not understand-” Carla began, big droplets of tears streaming down her face as she got on all fours to clutch at the ends of the witch’s robes, but Eren interrupted her almost instantly.

“Dada is mean to Mama,” Eren said resolutely, tone as serious as a child that small could be, “I hear it at night… He hits Mama…”

Carla gasped loudly at Eren's admission, thinking that the boy was fast asleep when Grisha got far enough into his cups that his anger was awoken. She covered her mouth as she looked up in shock, silenced by the truth that her small baby boy spoke.

“If I live… I will not ever be like Dada,” Eren claimed, putting as much strength into his voice as possible, staring up at Kuchel with conviction in his sparkling green eyes, “I will be a knight, and save all the people of the land… Like the story book that Mama reads to me…”

“And should you not uphold your promise, will you relinquish your borrowed heart and die the death you escape here tonight?” Kuchel inquired, ignoring the hitch of Carla’s breath as she looked at the little boy.

Eren's lip quivered as he gazed upon Kuchel, his heart at the beginning of the end. “I don't want to be a dragon…” he whispered looking up at Kuchel with fear in his eyes as Carla gasped again before wailing loudly at her inability to untie her tongue and beg Kuchel’'s forgiveness for her son’s offense. “They are mean and eat people… I don't want to live to be a murderer…” Eren finished as he began to cry in earnest.

“Didn’t you promise you would not be like your father? What do you know of dragons; have you ever met one?” Kuchel chastised in a soft, scolding tone, stroking his back soothingly. “My son is a dragon, one of the very last remaining since the king made sport of slaying them. Should I abandon my only son? Should I not fear for him, care for and cherish him as your mother does for you?”

Eren eyes grew wide and he sniffled sheepishly, effectively chastised. “I haven't… I'm sorry,” he admitted to Kuchel, nuzzling his head into her arm adorably in apology. He had long since decided he liked this woman, she smelled nice and she was pretty. She was a lot like his own Mama. “Your son is a dragon?” he asked in awe, wonder in his voice and eyes. “He doesn't eat people like Dada said? Can I meet him?” Carla was continuing to cry at their feet, exasperated with this conversation, but unable to make a peep to steer the witch back to saving Eren.

“He’s very gentle. You will meet him soon, but before you do, swear that should he lend his heart to you, you will not neglect it, for a dragon’s heart is more precious than you know,” she said solemnly, glancing past the child in her arms to the shifting of the shadows behind him, meeting the mercury maelstrom of her son’s pupiless gaze, and watched him as he stretched out toward the boy’s back silently, curls of chilly condensed breath escaping his nostrils, forked tongue whispering as it flickered from between his massive jaws, tasting the air as he subtly scented the child.

A small giggle escaped Eren, hands lifting to run through the witch’s soft hair. “I'm a good boy! I will take good care of your son’s heart,” he promised sincerely, a large smile on his face. “Does that mean I'm marrying a dragon? Like how Mama gave her heart to Dada? I'll protect my dragon bride’s heart,” he said bravely, completely misunderstanding what it meant to be given a heart.

“That’s very sweet little prince,” Kuchel said with a kind smile before she turned her gaze to the dragon looming behind the little boy in her arms. “Did you hear that Levi?” there was a soft huff of cool breath that tousled Eren’s hair and Kuchel went on teasingly, “A marriage proposal! It’s about time too. Come now, don’t keep the boy waiting. Don’t you want to be a princess?”

The dragon glared at the woman, wrinkling his snout and snapping his teeth with a reprimanding hiss. But he stepped forward, craning his neck to look at the child’s face. _Don’t make me regret this,_ a husky, deep voice murmured lowly, echoing in the confines of their minds since Levi had not spoken verbally. He reared up onto his haunches, snorting when the Queen cried out in fear, but didn’t acknowledge her further. He blinked both sets of reptilian eyelids as he focused his pupiless eyes on the little prince and one taloned foreleg rose to shift the layers of lacquered midnight scale from his vulnerable heart, offering it to the child in which all their hopes rested.

Eren's eyes were wide, vibrant green staring up straight passed the exposed heart to the grey eyes that loomed high above him. “So pretty…” Eren said in a hushed tone, in awe of the beast before him. “You are my bride then,” he said determinedly, an air of finality to his young voice, “I'll keep care of your heart… and then… then you'll find me when I am old enough...to... to marry,” he said, sudden weakness taking hold as the last beats of his heart carried out.

Eren didn't remember how his own heart was replaced with the dragon heart, just the sound of his mother's cries as the room faded out from view, giving one last smile to the dragon above him. It wasn't until the next morning that the young prince awoke with a start, looking around in a daze noticing that he was back bundled up safe in his bed. Shaking his head that in turn ruffled his brown locks, he jumped out of his bed and ran hollering to his mother's chambers in the castle.

“What an interesting dream you had little one,” the Queen commented after Eren told the whole story back to the woman as she put on powder to cover her red and tired eyes. At the time Eren frowned and vowed that it was all true and it had definitely happened, but as the days grew in number, he was pacified until he himself believed the whole night to be a dream just like his mother said.

It was after Eren's dream that the boy began to thrive, running and playing throughout the castle like he had always dreamed. He grew to be a young man of strength and beauty with bounds of endless energy and a temper inherited from his father. Of course Eren upheld his dreamed oath; he would never be like his father no matter his temper. He would control it; he had to. The young prince kept that oath until one fated day in the dead of winter. On that day, everything would change.


	2. Verse II: Fable

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/142844498@N04/39446250594/in/dateposted-public/)   


Thick boughed spruces decorated with little lace bows and illuminated with tiny white candles took up residence in the hall, plump arches of winter green garland adorned with holly and thistle hung from the ceilings and the castle was filled with the echoing of lilting hymns played by the court minstrels. Everything was in its place, proper, opulent, and expected from the decadent kingdom.

The great hall, the biggest room in the castle was filled to the brim with people; lords and ladies of the kingdom sitting down to Christmas dinner with the King. It was a holiday introduced to the populace by King Grisha and thoroughly enforced, wiping out any of the traditional Pagan holidays that might have taken place instead. No, this kingdom was to be Christian per King Grisha’s orders, none of the old ways were to be honoured lest his wrath be incited. 

So though the decorations were festive, the party was less than merry, most not knowing how to celebrate as newly anointed Christians. 

“Are we still supposed to eat the seafood?” someone whispered in a panic to their neighbor, glancing up every so often at the throne where the king sat in a drunken stupor to make sure he was still occupied. Luckily for the people of the banquet, King Grisha was more interested in sneaking his hand up the skirt of the whore on his knee than whether or not they were being good ‘Christians’. 

“I don’t know! The bloody rules are written in Latin! I thought it was just the shellfish that wasn’t allowed,” the lord nervously whispered back, “Why would they serve things we can’t eat?”

“The cooks are fucking idiots, they know about as well as us what we should be eating. The rule about shellfish is only for the Jews, we are to be Christian!” another whispered down the table. 

“Christ was a Jew! It said that God’s people are Jewish, aren’t we God’s people so therefore we should be Jewish,” another mused. 

“I don’t bloody care! Just smile if he fucking looks at you or it’ll be the stocks for the lot of us!” one of the lords hissed back. 

In the months before when the switch was made known, Grisha’s subjects tried looking to the bishop that had been haunting the castle like a ghost but found no guidance, for the man was a drunk and a gambler, not unlike their own King. Perhaps that was why they got along so well. 

“Beautiful celebration my lord! Absolutely beautiful! The Pope will be rejoiced when he receives my update,” the man said, decked from head to toe in red robes, swaying beside Grisha’s throne. 

“He’d better be and have God bless my kingdom with victory and the damn whereabouts of the last lizard stronghold,” Grisha gritted, wetting his lips and narrowing his bespectacled gaze on the clergyman. He sloshed his warm spiced wine around in his goblet, his hand still idly stroking up the smooth thigh of the girl in his lap, “I want them eradicated.”

The whore giggled obnoxiously loud, louder than all the whispers and forced merry making of the court around them. But no one paid her fake posturing any mind. Everyone knew if the girl managed to survive the night, she might come out of the King’s chambers black, blue, and bleeding, but she would also be weighed down with gold, a rare commodity what with the war that had gripped the kingdom for generations now. Everyone had to do what they must in order to survive, and some took a gamble to gain the King's favour. Most regretted that dance with fate; pulling the King’s eye from his favourite toy, Queen Carla, was never a wise decision to make. 

One thick brow twitched as the girl’s laughter grated on the King’s ears. His hand found the nape of her neck roughly, pinching and harsh as his fingers curled against her flesh and squeezed as he drew her down. The abrupt force of the motion had her choking on her breath and her fingers scrabbled at his chest, clawing at the fabric in desperation. He tilted his head close to her ear, slanting his gaze at her threateningly and berating her in a callous tone, “The only good whore is a _quiet_ whore. You‘d do well to remember that. I don’t like to repeat myself.”

“We should drink to the King’s good health and fortune,” Queen Carla’s voice rang out clear and calm, drawing the room's eyes to her mature and ethereal beauty. Seated to the left of the King, straight-backed and tall in her chair, no glimmer of shame in her posture though her husband’s lap was full of another woman. Her brown eyes caught Grisha’s green, a gentle smile fixed on her lips as she drew his attention away from the whore and onto herself. She was quick to drop her gaze though, submitting to the King instantly as she reached forward to grab a pitcher off the table and refill her lord’s goblet. It was beneath a Queen’s status to play serving wench, but Carla knew it would please the King to lower herself in such a way in front of the entire court, if only to save the girl more bruises. 

Grisha snorted rudely, “As you can see, some whores are too stubborn or stupid to learn not to interrupt,” he said as he watched his Queen moving, reaching to grope between her legs with his unoccupied hand as she bent to refill his goblet. 

Carla made no outward protest of the King's actions, only a small twitch of her smiling lips giving away her displeasure. She did nothing to hinder Grisha though, allowing the man to roughly fondler her. It wasn’t sexual, it was only to degrade her further and although the entire court was bearing witness, only one other was openly bothered by such treatment towards the Queen. 

Seated to the right of the Queen, the Prince’s hand gripped his goblet so hard, his knuckles were white, but he raised his glass to honour his father despite his displeasure, ever the dutiful son. 

Eren found his rage to be just under his skin, always there but always hidden, never allowed to be unleashed. “To King Jaeger… May his inevitable victory be glorious and remembered for all eternity,” Eren barked out to the court, his voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling before he threw his goblet back, gulping down the burning liquid before slamming the cup down as it was customary. He kept his eyes straight forward, refusing to witness his father degrade his mother while the lords of the land drank to this evil man's triumph. Sickening; he could hardly stop himself from puking in disgust. 

The king looked at his son dispassionately over the rim of his goblet. Carla had been his beloved once, and oh how he had loved her, beautiful, kind, and, graceful. But then she’d birthed him a perfectly sickly heir. Eren had been a weak child, had succumbed to illness from infancy and was unlikely to ever reach adulthood. He had no interest in the child and lost what he’d had in his mother as well, but he hadn’t such disdain for them then. His eyes shifted to the woman in question and then back to his son. He knew... He knew what despicable thing she’d done. 

Their boy had been meant to die. It had been upon him and she had stolen away in the night, sought out the perversion that was the serpent witch, a whore that laid with dragons. She’d struck a deal though he did not know the details of the covenant she’d made with the bedeviled creatures. Eren had woken in the morning healthier than he’d ever been, never struck by another childhood ailment again. It was a miracle… But Grisha knew… It had been devil’s magic that saved him. That child that had woken that day was not his any longer. He had spent years after that leading conquests to eliminate all of the unnatural creatures from his realm, drowned himself in whores and glutted on wine and banquet, reveled in his power and wealth, all the while plotting how to come about being rid of his Queen and heir so that he might seek a new one to birth him a proper son.

Eren felt his father's eyes on him, so he turned to stare back with the green eyes Grisha had given him. “Have I done something to displease your majesty?” he asked, tone with a little too much edge to be considered sincere but polite enough to avoid punishment. Eren wished he could scream and rage at the man that hated him so. Who would hate their own son and beat their own Queen? A monster that’s who. 

Grisha narrowed his eyes at Eren. “Watch your tone boy. You can blame your precious mother for the ire I bare you. Everyday you exist is a sin, you ought to give your life to God and beg his forgiveness for what you are, for what your mother made of you,” he replied scathingly, his bearded countenance filled with contemptuous disdain as the venomous words hissed from his tongue. He leaned back in his chair, beckoned the whore still perched on his knee to fill his gobet once again from the decanter he’d kept closest to him, but had not drunk from before. He offered it to Carla without looking at her, eyes still boring into those of his heir. And a slow, dark smile curled over his lips as she took it from him shakily, probably understanding what he’d done, still watching his son, “Of course, true absolution can only be granted through penance and for such sins as witchcraft and treason, well only through death can they be cleansed.”

Eren’s face scrunched in confusion, brows furrowing over his continued glare at his father. “What do you-... What are you-...” his voice started and stopped twice, unable to find the words as Grisha’s echoed in his mind. He looked to his mother for some clarity, but her honeyed brown eyes were too busy staring down at the goblet in her hand, her usually smiling visage now filled with fear, the reflection of her face pale in the drink. 

“Mother?” Eren whispered, but Carla did not respond to her son, acceptance and determination filling her gaze. Quickly, like she might lose the nerve, she lifted the goblet and drank heartedly from the glass before it fell from her hand with a clatter and stained the stone of the dining room red. The room went eerily quiet before Eren broke the silence with a strangled cry, “Mother!” His scream echoed against the vaulted ceiling as he stood abruptly, his throne falling back as he rushed to her side. But Carla was already slumping in her throne, her usual gentle smile stained red with the wine, or was it blood? With her last strength, she took off her crown and threw it at Grisha, the pointed metal narrowly escaping his face, giving the man one last smile in defiance before she looked at her panicked son.

“Healer! Get the healer! The Queen has been poisoned!” he yelled to the courtiers, but no one was moving, no one was reacting.“Help! Help me you cowards!” he screamed in rage, but they all just turned away, guilt marring their faces. 

“Hush now, my love, my baby…” Carla whispered, a pale hand lifting to press to Eren’s cheek, guiding his eyes to look into hers as blood streamed from her eyes and nose, “You must go…” 

“I will not leave you,” Eren said back, tears now streaming down his own face, hands constantly moving, gripping her arm then running through her hair then hovering over the blood since he didn’t know what to do to save her. “I’ll bring you with me…” he bargained, his eyes darting around to figure out how he would lift her to deliver her to a healer. Eren had never been more helpless in his life. 

“It’s… too… late…” Carla’s strained voice managed to say, beginning to gasp for air as blood splattered out with every word. It was only a moment before the light left her eyes and her body was limp in the chair. The Queen was dead and Eren was paralyzed.  
The King watched the scene unfold with dispassionate satisfaction, shifting the whore in his lap when she turned away from the sight, choking on a frightened sob and unable to flee. “Guards,” he called abruptly, voice harsh and commanding, “Seize the Prince. He’s poisoned the Queen. The wine I so graciously offered her was a gift from him to me, no doubt a plot to assassinate me conceived by the both of them!” Though his claim was indeed questionable, the guards began to move, obeying the order for fear of the King’s retribution should they hesitate. 

It was then that Mikasa came swiftly from within the throng of guests, her boots barely sounding on the stone as she moved with purposeful determination, a longsword firmly held in her grip. She dispatched three of the closest guards before she yanked Eren up onto his feet, shoving him towards the hidden entrance behind the thrones where Armin, had been waiting. Both youths had grown up with the prince and had been loyal to him and his mother and they had heard the suspicious whisperings between the other guards and servants. They’d came too late to save the Queen or condemn the King that had betrayed them all, but they would not abandon their Prince. He was the salvation, the hope of the kingdom, the heir that could end the greed and oppression of Grisha’s reign. They could not afford to lose him. 

She thrust Eren ahead of her and spun to attack the king, killing the unfortunate whore in the process when Grisha used her as a shield. But it was futile on his part as the dead weight of her inhibited his escape and Mikasa was able to gain the upper hand, slipped behind his throne and held her blade at his throat threateningly. The guards stilled as Grisha put up a desperate hand to stay them lest the girl decide to let her hand slip. She leaned over his shoulder and spoke right next to his ear, “You’ll pay for this day and all others before it that have been blackened by you. Perhaps not today, but someday soon. All debts are paid and all sins are punished.” As soon as the last hissed word left her lips, her unoccupied hand shot out to plunge a dagger into the King’s shoulder. Grisha roared with agony and the guards and guests clambered, tripping over themselves as chaos befell the court in a matter of moments. And in the panic, the girl slipped down the passage with Armin and Eren to make their escape.

Eren was sluggish with shock as he was moved along by his two most trusted friends, eyes unseeing for they were marred with the image of the last time he’d ever see his mother. But the more he was able to process the situation the more he began to resist the movement forward. “We must go back,” he said, voice shaking and filled with panic as he started to drag his feet. When neither of his companions answered he planted his feet then stepped in front of them and turned around to stare at them in anger and yell “We must save her!” 

Mikasa wasted no time in approaching Eren, wanting to get them as far away as possible and to safety; they did not have time to waste consoling him, no matter how they might wish to. They would grieve for the Queen together, but not here, not now. They’d be grieving for themselves if they were caught. “There is no saving her Eren. I made a vow to her that I would protect you at all costs and in the event that this happened, we were to go to the cave beyond the pine barrens. Don’t be stubborn or her sacrifice will be in vain; we must go,” she said with firm conviction, reaching for him, prepared to move him by any means required. He must live. They could not be caught.

“Eren,” Armin’s voice sounded, quiet, level and coaxing, “Mikasa is right. We must not linger here.”

Eren was beginning to shake as he scrunched his eyes shut as hard as he could. He knew they were right. His mother was already dead.

Fists balled at his side he spit, “I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t do anything…” He only stood in spot for a strangled breath longer before he turned once again and swiftly began walking down the passage. “I’ll kill them… I’ll kill them all…” he vowed with tears streaming down his face. No his mother’s death would not be in vain. Eren would kill his father. He would kill King Grisha for what he did and what he’d already done.

***

Levi smelled them before he heard them and felt the resonation, the draw of his own blood, the beat of the other half of his heart and knew who had come to his home again. It had been years since he’d made the deal with the little boy with forest eyes, but there was no mistaking him. The dragon shifted, smokey charcoal scale glittering like oil on water in the dim light, waiting patiently as the prince and his cohort approached the entrance of his home away from home, listening. Voices reached him, determined and pained, calm and collected, quiet and coaxing; there were three of them, only three and he could smell the grief and betrayal, the righteous anger and salt of tears and he could guess even without the words the youths spoke that Queen Carla was dead.

“Why are we even here?” Eren hissed through gritted teeth, hacking away at a nearby tree with a broadsword they found along the way, cloak off and down to his breeches as he continuously worked his body. They had set up camp outside of the infamous forbidden cave before day break. The sun had been up for several hours now, and the morning chill was finally being chased away, but still they waited. Waited for what, the prince did not know.

“Patience, Eren,” Armin said, sitting on the log of a dead tree with a large book planted on his lap, hunched over so he could read the small writing, not even bothering to look up as he addressed Eren. 

“You’ll know when the wait is over,” Mikasa added, continuously sharpening her arsenal of weapons with a wet stone as she watched their meager fire. It was the same two answers they had given him multiple times now, but they did not calm him. No, if anything, they made Eren want to scream. 

Eren was restless, couldn’t sit still since they’d left the castle, couldn’t sleep, or eat much of anything. All of his focus was on the anger flowing through his veins, feeding him the energy he needed. 

Without warning, Eren screeched in aggravation as he chucked the sword as far into the forest as hard as he could and didn’t bother to see where it went before he turned around. His chest was heaving and his exposed upper body was glistening from exertion as he glared at the two before him. “We should be doing something!” he yelled at his two complacent companions, “We should be petitioning lords, swaying villagers… Finding allies! I cannot defeat Grisha with just you two… We shouldn’t just be sitting here with our thumbs up our asses.” 

Mikasa took a moment to look up at him with her piercing grey eyes. “We are doing something. We are waiting. And we will continue to wait until the only ally you’ll ever need shows himself,” she sighed like she was talking to a young child throwing a tantrum, going back to the task of sharpening her dagger. 

Eren frowned at her in confusion and frustration, hand running through his damp and disheveled hair until he threw his arms up in the air then stomped off to find the sword he’d just chucked into the brush. He felt like he was going to go insane so he decided the walk might be good to clear his head and diffuse his irritation. 

It took some time for the dragon to come to the decision to show himself to his unexpected guests, arguing with his own curiosity until it finally won out. He should see what had become of the boy he’d shared his heart with. There was a sound, a grating of hard scale on stone as Levi moved through the dark cave, heaving his large form to the mouth of it. He lingered in the shadows there, glacial eyes watching, scrutinizing as he considered the pair that remained after the other had stormed off. Neither of them were recognized though the girl smelled familiar; dragon kin, though weak and mostly dormant in her mixed blood, but there. Interesting company the prince kept.

It wasn’t until her head abruptly shot up and her sharp eyes bore into the fathomless chasm of the cave, seeking out and locking with his own that he finally made his presence known. The frozen well inside him swelled momentarily, the familiar chill crawling up his throat before he opened his mouth to spit a gout of frigid liquid out of the cave mouth, turning to spiked ice crystals when it impacted the earth, semi-circling the pair and their fire abruptly. A rough and guttural sound that was vaguely recognizable as a chuckle echoed from him as they both shot to their feet, the girl poised in a defensive position with weapons raised and narrowed gaze. 

“We mean no harm,” Mikasa said warily, tilting her head to the side in an ingrained act of submission, eyes darting to Armin to signal he should do the same. The son of Eren's tutor was a quick thinker it seemed for his blond head turned to the side in the exact same pose as Mikasa. “We brought the prince… The one you hold a covenant with, he’s-,”

Drowning out Mikasa’s voice, a battle cry echoed through the forest as Eren jumped into the forest, wielding his sword with his chest still bare, an odd birthmark on his chest more prominent than ever on his tan skin. His eyes were on fire and his face a snarl as he sprinted towards the cave, ready to face down the monster that threatened his only allies, his only friends; the only people he truly trusted in this world. He would not let a dragon take them. 

“Eren no!” Mikasa yelled, the sound jarring on her usually quiet voice, but the Prince was not listening, charging to what she knew would be certain death. You did not face a dragon single handed with a dull blade. You did not face _this_ dragon at all, not even with an army if the legends were true. 

Levi’s tail swung forward as Eren charged at him. The impact sent the young man to the ground, slamming him to the earth and knocking the wind out of him, the retrieved blade skittering over packed dirt and stone some several feet away. One scaled foreleg came down to pin the boy where he was sprawled and the dragon peered down at him, dual eyelids blinking curiously. He’d certainly grown from the tiny, sickly thing he’d been. _You don’t want to do that princeling,_ his deep voice filtered through the minds of the humans, startling them and he made that same odd sound that was his amusement. He could feel his heart thrumming inside the young man and his large head hovered over the pinned prince, his broad snout pressing in to sniff at the mark on Eren’s chest where the familiar lifeforce that belonged to him resided.

Even staring into the face of death, Eren began to struggle against the claws that pressed him into the ground once he had gained his breath. “Let me go! Giant fucking lizard! I won’t be killed by the likes of you,” he snarled, surprisingly able to get enough room between him and the ground to kick his feet up into the dragon’s foot. The dragon just huffed, in no way frightened by the little creature screaming obscenities at it, stepping down with even more pressure so that Eren couldn’t move, or even barely breathe. That didn’t stop the prince from glaring up at the dragon before he opened his mouth and bit the dragon as hard as he could. The scales were as hard as rock and the feeling reverberated through his jaw, but he continued to gnaw on what he could reach, hoping he’d find a tender part between scales to inflict damage. 

Amused icy eyes glowed as the dragon inclined his head, his mental voice as humoured as his gaze, _Stop that, it tickles._ The boy was either brave or stupid or perhaps a mix of both. He kept him pinned, his large head bobbing as he turned his attention from the spitting, struggling prince to his companions and back again, _Why have you come here?_

“Don’t ask me…” Eren growled, finally slumping against the ground, making himself content with glaring up at the dragon with malice. 

Mikasa and Armin were still standing a few feet a away, completely frozen like statues, the scent of a dragon so close paralyzing them with fear. It was incredible that Eren didn’t seem affected at all, but Mikasa was the next to be able to unglue her body and collapse to the ground in a somewhat awkward prostration. “Please… don’t kill him…” she managed to say, her voice strangled as she forced the words from her mouth, “He’s… the only… hope…”

_That’s not an answer to my question little half-breed. If I’d wanted the lot of you dead, you would be,_ Levi replied, his gaze back on Eren though he was addressing the dragon kin girl, _Why have you brought him here? Has the King finally made his move?_

“Grisha is no King! He’s a monster!” Eren spit, face scrunching in grief as he finally dropped his gaze from the dragon. He managed to wiggle his arms out from underneath the beast, and was testing his strength against the claws buried into the ground. With every move, he was searching for a way to break free, beginning to use his head instead of rage and brute strength. “And I’m going to kill him. So I cannot be killed by some stupid fire breathing lizard-,” he muttered, neck straining backwards to see where his sword had gone. 

“Eren!” Mikasa said, lifting her head in rage to interrupt the Prince’s insult, “For once in your life, just shut up!” Eren immediately fell back to look at her in shock. Mikasa was his sworn servant; she had never spoken to him in such a way before. “Grisha poisoned Queen Carla and charged the Prince with the murder. He knows of the covenant and seeks to break it before he orders the extermination of your race to begin,” she explained, keeping her eyes lowered as she spoke.

“Covenant?” Eren echoed, his brow furrowing in confusion as he got over his shock at Mikasa’s insubordination. “Grisha said something like that before he-... He-,” Eren mused, then his face twisted in pain and he yelled, “What the hell is going on?” 

Levi ignored Eren’s struggling and his bellowing, humming thoughtfully as his claws shifted in the dirt. _You came here for protection then, is that it?_ He would help them because he’d known since he’d made the deal with the child all those years ago that this day would come, but he would not do so without question.

“No. Not protection,” Mikasa answered, shaking her head as she glanced up at the giant dragon then lowered her eyes once again, “We need an alliance with the dragon race, and you’re the only way to find them.” 

_I see,_ the dark dragon answered, narrowing his slitted gaze at the young woman, _And you would vouch for his worthiness though he disrespects and insults our kind? It is clear he does not remember the promises he’s made. Why should I put my trust in him? Why have you?_ He could feel Eren squirming and preparing to protest Levi’s words irately as he was ignored and the dragon only pressed down on his belly to quiet him as he spoke to his companions. 

“He has been blinded by grief and rage, mind clouded with helplessness at watching his mother take her last breath in his arms…” Armin finally spoke up, looking up at the dragon with clear blue eyes though his small and frail body quaked beneath him, “But do not let his foolish words cement your judgement. He has always been not just the strength for the weak but a voice… No matter how much he incited Grisha’s wrath at defending your kind he did it, in front of the entire court. If you do not believe me, just look at the lash scars on his back for speaking out against King Grisha’s cruelty.” 

“It’s true…” Mikasa agreed, finally lifting herself onto her knees, staring straight into the dragon’s eyes, “He’s never treated me different though I am dragon kin, just like his mother who found me and sheltered me when Grisha passed the law to eliminate all of the people like me… I’ve been his sworn guard for his entire life, I’ve watched him grow… I would not have brought him to you if I did not think him worthy. He is young… and rash… but his spirit is good. That is why he holds my hope.” 

The massive, scaled head bobbed as another low hum of acknowledgement rumbled in the dragon’s chest, considering the conviction with which both Eren’s companions spoke of him and their loyalty. He looked back down at Eren, relieving the pressure he’d been exerting on the young man as he addressed him, _You are blessed to have such honest and loyal companions princeling. You’d do well to appreciate them and trust in their judgement. If I let you up, are you going to attempt to stab or bite me to death again?_

Eren’s anger had calmed from embarrassment taking its place. His face was bright red at his friends passionate words. “I only attacked you because I thought you were going to hurt them,” Eren huffed, turning his head away to hide his blush, “Are you going to let me up now? You are heavy.” 

Levi chuckled again, cocking his head as he watched Eren huff and petulantly turn his head away. Such a haughty thing the sweet little child that he’d shared his heart with had become, so full of fire and righteousness. Interesting… Perhaps there was indeed hope. _Is that any way to ask? Where are your manners princeling?_

“I’m not going to beg, if that’s what you’re asking,” Eren growled, eyes flashing with righteous anger. A big sigh echoed from across the clearing, Mikasa wondering if Eren had any self preservation skills. 

_So insolent… A simple please would have sufficed. If you expect to make allies with myself and my kin, you’d do well to learn the word. Your mother would be ashamed if she could hear how you speak,_ Levi responded in a scolding and unimpressed tone, not at all pleased by the brat’s rudeness. He did not let Eren up, looking down at him expectantly. They did not have time to play these games. No doubt Grisha would be in pursuit and it would not take him long to find his way to the cave. If Levi was to take them to the home of dragons, they would need to straighten out some ground rules and leave as soon as possible. The boy’s petulant obstinance would do him no good.

Eren looked up at the dragon with the sort of deranged anger he had when he had outright attacked with. “Do not speak of my mother. You didn’t know her, and you do not care to know of her. I give the same respect that I am shown… Maybe if you wouldn’t have came out and spit magic around my only allies like you were going to attack, I wouldn’t have charged you. Maybe I would honour an agreement I know nothing about if someone would bother explaining it to me, instead of treating me like I’m stupid for questioning it. Maybe I would be polite if you at least gave your name, but instead, just because you are big and powerful and can kill me here and now you think you should demand all the respect without showing any courtesy yourself, dragon… So go ahead and kill me if you are going to continue to dishonour my mother in such a way,” Eren spit, body going completely lax and ending his struggle against the massive beast, his eyes daring him to do it.

Levi snorted, forked tongue flicking out in irritation as he pressed his snout right up next to Eren’s face, his chilled breath making the young man shiver satisfyingly. _It is you who does not know. Stupid boy. Dragons are a proud race. We have been here much longer than you little mortals and we will be here long after you are gone. We deserve respect. Your mother knew that. She also knew this day would come. You will learn humility and you will be polite or I will leave you here to fend for yourself. I do not have to explain myself to you little princeling. Royalty though you may be, you are no king of mine. If you wish to speak as equals, you’d do well to prove yourself to be everything your companions have said. I’ll give you my name when you are deserving of it,_ his voice hissed through their minds, deepened with anger. He should not have shared his heart with such a spoiled and naive child as this. So rash, so arrogant, quick to temper and lash out; he would win no battles this way. If Eren did not heed his words, did not remember and keep his forgotten promises, Grisha would succeed and they would all suffer for it.

Eren’s face suddenly fell slack. “I’m no king. I’m no prince anymore either. That all died with my mother,” he said quietly, green eyes finally clear and honest as he looked up, “I want nothing more than to kill Grisha. You can have the throne if you want it. All I want is him dead for what he’s done. I will renounce my title if you help me. You can even kill me once he’s dead, if you do not believe my word.” 

Armin gasped and Mikasa snarled. What was Eren doing? He was going to throw it all away. 

A distasteful scoff sounded from the dragon and his large head swayed back and forth. _If that’s so, you should have died with your mother. Do you think that is what she wanted for you? Do you know the promise she made to my mother? To me? She vowed you would be a better king than your father. If you cannot vow the same, then you deserve no aide. Do not be wretched. I’ve no desire to kill you, but neither will I assist you in your quest for simple vengeance. Indeed Grisha deserves a thousand deaths, but what good is his death if you let another like him rule in your stead. It is in your blood to take the throne. I did not give you life so you could waste it._

He abruptly released his hold on the boy and turned away, the ground quaking under his heavy steps. He snorted again, head whipping angrily, his squalling gaze traveling from one to the other of the little group as he spoke, _I will leave for the skylands. If you wish to join me, now is the time. The king certainly hasn’t been idle. His guard is already marching. I can smell them in the air. Come or don’t. I won’t wait._

Mikasa and Armin quickly gathered their supplies while Eren was busy rolling his eyes so hard it made his head hurt. As far as Eren was concerned, he didn’t care what this dragon thought of him. The beast didn’t know him, and couldn’t be bothered to be polite to Eren, so until there was mutual respect he would act in the same manner. Getting up from the ground, Mikasa threw him a shirt and a long coat that he tugged on before he stood with his arms crossed and eyed the dragon. 

“How are we doing this? Do we ride you like a horse?” Eren asked, green eyes roaming over the beast and wondering how this was going to work. It was surprising that he could tell the dragon was outraged by the notion by the shift in its scales and the barring of its teeth. Eren sighed and held up a hand to say, “Before you get cross and lecture me, I honestly do not know how we are travelling… I will remember in the future to be more eloquent with my words to avoid offending you... I would have never thought a being like you could be so… sensitive.” 

Already irritated, the dragon huffed, the chilly breath of air washing through the little clearing and making the humans shiver again. _Yes well, it seems you don’t have many intelligent thoughts in that air-filled head of yours. Since none of you have wings, it would be quite the feat if the lot of you managed to get to the Skylands on your own. You may ride on my back for now,_ his dry tone filtered through their minds and he lowered himself onto his belly so that the trio could do as he’d said. His large head turned as Eren reached out for one of the thick spikes along his spine and he eyed him, _And a piece of wise advice, in the future, I wouldn’t compare me or any of my kind to a horse or you’ll find yourself riding in much less **comfortable** accommodations,_ he finished, snapping his teeth at the prince in a threateningly taunting manner.

“Yeah, yeah. The sooner we get there, the sooner we will be rid of each other,” Eren muttered, climbing up and none too gently, making sure to dig his boots and fingers in with every step. When he finally settled on top with Mikasa and Armin above him, he couldn’t help but smile. His earliest memory was of a dream flying through the sky with a dragon, and now it was going to happen. His thighs gripped the base of the back of the dragon’s neck as his hands slowly smoothed over the shiny scales. “Magnificent…” he breathed to himself, so quiet the others didn’t hear, then began running his hands over separate spines in inspection. Eren was so enthralled he didn’t think about the dragon and feel what he was doing. 

The spines shivered and shifted under Eren’s touch, unused to the caressing contact from anyone that wasn’t family and even then, it had been some time since he had had even that much. The prince’s touch was unexpectedly pleasant, gentle and reverent as was the flattering comment. A strange thrum echoed in his chest where his half-heart beat steadily in tandem with its counterpart residing in Eren’s chest and he kept silent for long moments, confused by the unfamiliar sensation and irritated by his inability to identify it. He gave another chuffing snort and tried to ignore it as he crouched down, thick muscle bunching and rippling under scale. He abruptly launched himself into the air without further warning, chuckling as he felt his passengers all scramble to get a better grip as he took to the air, great wings beating heavily as he circled and headed north towards the land of his birth.


	3. Verse III: Tale

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/142844498@N04/25288618867/in/dateposted-public/)

As the dragon took flight, Armin screeched in panic, holding on to Mikasa for dear life, and Mikasa’s usual calm and confident expression was replaced with a pale face and tightly scrunched eyes as she in turn held on to Eren. The prince, however, though he startled at first, was quick to recover, looking all around him at the beautiful sky and then down at the land below. 

“This is incredible,” he bellowed, trying to be heard over the whooshing sound of wind that filled their ears, “We are flying! We are really flying!” He threw his hands out in the air to feel the breeze as he threw his head back and laughed in mirth. “Can you go faster?” Eren asked the dragon, placing his hand on the dragon’s neck once again to get its attention, pressure gentle as he rubbed the smooth scales.

“Lord no,” Armin cried, “We are going fast enough.” 

Mikasa nodded her head in agreement against Eren’s back. She never thought she was afraid of heights, but then again, she doubted any human had ever travelled so high. 

“Cowards!” Eren yelled then began to laugh again, probably his first smile since his mother’s death.

Levi’s odd laughter joined Eren’s as he replied with a wicked bit of mischief to the tone of his telepathic voice, ignoring the protests from the other two youths and more than pleased to show off his talents in the air, _I can do a whole lot more than that princeling. Hold on tight._ He spread his wings to their full span and caught the updraft, letting it pull them up higher, above the clouds. He barrel-rolled in the air several times before arching upwards again, climbing in height until the ground was barely visible beneath them and the air thinned, closing his wings in suddenly and falling into a spinning dive, plummeting back towards the earth.

Armin and Mikasa screamed in horror as Eren laughed and laughed, holding on but keeping his eyes open even as tears were building; he couldn’t miss a single moment. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, adrenaline flowing through his veins. It had to be one of the most invigorating moments of his entire short life, watching as the ground came faster into view. 

“We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die,” chanted Armin, unable to move as they plummeted. 

“Stop!” Mikasa begged as they continued to freefall.

Levi spun thrice more as the ground rushed up to meet them, only to just as suddenly open his wings again and swoop back up from the fall, looping twice before he evened out and coasted on the currents of air between the clouds, releasing a trumpeting call and sending up a swirling arch of frost into the air overhead, shimmering in the sunlight as it rained back down on them like snow. It was clear that the prince enjoyed the freedom of flight as much as he did and it was almost easy to forget the dire circumstances that had led to this fateful meeting, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t happy enough for the distraction. There wasn’t likely to be a lot of free time for such frivolities in the coming weeks. 

When they finally leveled out, Armin threw himself to the side to throw up while Mikasa was muttering to herself, obviously distracted. Eren was starting to calm down now, tears streaming down his face as he looked towards the horizon. Shaking off Mikasa’s grip, he slowly lifted himself until he was standing in a crouch on the dragon’s back before he stepped between spines and worked his way to the head. 

“Eren,” Mikasa said, voice filled with fright again, inching forward but unable to get herself to go after him. All she could do was watch with bated breath as their only hope risked his life. 

The prince almost slipped a few times, but it didn’t phase him, only gaining confidence with every step. He finally found himself at his destination, lowering himself to grip the back of the dragon’s head with his thighs then settled atop of his broad, spine-crowned skull. “You were right. It would be foolish to die,” he spoke without prompting, “I don’t want to die anymore.” 

A few of the softer spines located around the flat discs of Levi’s ears flickered and brushed against the prince that was currently straddling his head and his stormy eyes rolled up to look at the windswept teen. Both sets of eyelids blinked succinctly, that same strange thrum throbbing deep in his chest again accompanied by a spark of attraction he could not even begin to understand as he looked at him, really looked at him. And realized what he hadn’t before; Eren was beautiful, bold and fierce in it and bright like the aura of the sun now that he wasn’t lost in grief and distorted with rage. Beautiful…

The dragon swallowed and turned his gaze away, embarrassed by the realization and the sudden attraction he’d never previously had to a human. _Good,_ he murmured quietly as he turned his attention back to the sky ahead, though he could not quite ignore the weight of the boy on his head anymore.

“How would a human gain the respect of a dragon, I wonder,” Eren said, turning his head down with a carefree but crooked grin to catch the silver eyes that saw straight through to his soul, “You said you won’t give me your name until I do… I don’t really like calling you dragon in my head…” 

Levi hummed, the sound vibrating through his whole body, considering if Eren had perhaps earned his name yet. _You’ll not cast the life you’ve been given aside so easily again? You’ll accept the responsibility of your destiny? You’ll swear it?_ he asked in answer, deciding he would accept Eren’s word and his respect would depend upon what Eren said.

“I swear it,” Eren said, smile falling to be replaced by a more serious expression, “I will not disrespect those who have sacrificed for me. And that doesn’t just include my mother... I know the dragon race will not enjoy the son and grandson of the men who wiped out most of their population coming to their stronghold. I don’t expect to be welcomed warmly… I recognize the risk you’ve put yourself in for helping me, and I will honour you by keeping my word.” 

The dragon’s head bobbed in acknowledgement. _Levi is the name my mother gave me which is probably short for something god awful in dragontongue, but it suits me just fine. And you might be surprised at the greeting you receive princeling. My mother’s been telling your story there for some years now. Even so, try not to be arrogant. Humility goes a long way with my kind,_ he answered after a moment’s pause, climbing higher in the air once again to pass over the snow-capped teeth of the Northern mountains bordering the Eren’s kingdom.

“And when have I been arrogant?” Eren teased, a playful grin coming back before he was distracted by the mountain before him. His eyes were bright as he looked all around, having never been to the northern reach before. “It’s beautiful,” he whispered in awe, bouncing atop Levi’s head in excitement, acting like the child he used to be. 

_It is, but it pales in comparison to my homelands,_ Levi answered, a smile in his voice, snapping playfully at some gulls that passed by him _You’ve never been outside your kingdom’s walls have you princeling?_

“I have… to other castles or great houses. Or following my father as he hunted. Never allowed to ride out by myself or explore. I escaped a lot, but it was mostly to run around the villages…” he explained absently, leaning further and further onto Levi’s head to continue to look out, trying to see the world from the dragon’s point, “It must be amazing to have wings… Go anywhere you want… do whatever you want… Not have rules to follow or responsibilities to tend to…” 

_It was, before we became hunted. The freedom is peaceful. You know there was a time when mortal and dragon lived that way together,_ Levi said, _I was younger in those days. It seems such a long time now since then; it was only perhaps a century ago. When you are king Eren, you can know that freedom, those days can return again. Or at least that is the hope. You don’t remember, but you promised it once._

Eren frowned, face scrunching in confusion. “Of course I have… Been fighting my father on his dragon policy for years now. Felt fruitless but I guess now I’m making a bigger stand… The prince’s insubordination is not common knowledge so how would you know?” he asked, staring down again, much closer to Levi’s eyes now that he was hanging precariously off the dragon’s head. Apparently heights weren’t a problem for Eren, while his friends were still huddled together behind shaking with fear. 

Levi hummed again thoughtfully, _Like I said you do not yet remember… You made a promise to **me** princeling,_ he finally answered after long moments mulling it over. He beat his wings, gaining altitude again and catching a current, spreading the monstrous span and gliding, letting the wind take him.

“I think I would remember meeting you… You’re kind of hard to forget. I’ve been dreaming about dragon’s since I was little…” he said, looking up, trying to remember. But nothing came to him and anything that did was cloudy as if covered in a fog. Sitting back, he made himself comfortable once again, seated on the back of Levi’s head as they had a peaceful moment looking at the sky towards the horizon. “How much further? Is it harder to fly with extra weight?” Eren asked, concern in his voice. He didn’t want to expend Levi’s energy, especially since he didn’t know what they were flying into. 

Levi beat his wings once lazily before continuing to simply coast along the current, following the instinctive pull of home. _And yet, you’ve forgotten. Perhaps it will return to you… It will not be long now, just passed the next peaks. And no, the weight of three brats is hardly daunting. I can carry much more than that. I’m a little offended, but you don’t know any better, do you? Curious little thing; I see you never outgrew that quality,_ he said amusedly, no particular offense in his tone. If he were honest, he was quite enjoying their conversation as they travelled; it wasn’t often he had company during flights and rarer still, the sort he was interested in conversing with. He was almost disappointed that they would be arriving soon and he would not have the boy’s full attention as he did then.

“Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back,” Eren answered with a sly grin, poking the top of Levi’s head teasingly, “And how am I supposed to know? I’ve never flown before and I wouldn’t want to fall out of the sky because I unknowingly overworked you. It’s not like we planned ahead of time. Have you even eaten breakfast? What do you eat? I can’t believe you eat humans like Grisha said. Not that you couldn’t. It’s just I don’t think human meat would taste very good. But I guess I’ve never eaten a human before. I like chicken for the most part, not a big fan of fish. Do you eat fish? Can you dive into water and just open your mouth and catch fish? Can you breathe underwater? Can you breathe _fire_? Wait I guess I’ve only seen you breathe ice. Can you breathe both or no? Are there different types of dragon’s with different kinds of abilities. Are you full grown? How old are you? Where were you born? Were you hatched or live birth?” The questions were coming so quickly he didn’t even have time to breathe as he rambled them all off to Levi, not giving the dragon a chance to respond. The prince never thought he’d be able to have a one on one conversation with a dragon before, and suddenly it struck him how opportune this moment was. 

_Breathe Eren,_ Levi ordered humouredly, vaguely cross-eyed as he looked up at the boy currently perched between the ridges of his brow. _Always in such a rush… My diet is much like yours I’d imagine, mostly meat and some vegetation when the mood strikes. But unlike you, I can go many weeks without consuming anything as I eat a great deal when I do. And I don’t eat humans; they’re gamey and filthy more often than not. I do like fish on occasion. Because I am elementally bound to water, I am able to breathe in it. I am the only icebreather left, passed to me by my mother and no I cannot breathe fire. There used to be many kinds, but they are few now and many have not been seen in centuries, extinct probably. Like me, many of the others are the last of their bloodlines. I am a fully matured adult, but I am not near finished growing. I might double in size and wingspan by the time I am an elder. I will be a hundred and eighty this coming winter and I was hatched in the skylands as we all are. When it is time for laying, we all return there; the nesting grounds are there. Satisfied princeling?_ he finished, answering Eren’s questions idly. There was really so much the humans did not know, had forgotten about them over the centuries. The boy’s enthusiasm was unexpectedly endearing and his wide eyed attention as Levi elaborated was, though he would not think so aloud, without a doubt charming.

“Interesting,” Eren said with a hum and a nod, suddenly looking back to check on his friends. “I would grab Armin because he’d probably have even more questions for you, but I think he’d rather die than move and he might throw up again… We used to read books about your kind together when I was younger, but it was hard to find anything good that hadn’t been burned. Grisha loved to burn books,” he explained, a wrinkle forming between his brows at certain memories that came to the forefront of his mind. “It was hard to find any real knowledge, so I’d always wondered. Most of the books were about some knight rescuing a princess from an evil dragon,” Eren said, face now scrunched with disgust, “Besides, when I was younger I thought… I wanted…” The prince’s voice trailed off unexpectedly, as a blush rose to his cheeks and he turned away to hide it, “It’s silly…” 

_Oh come now, what was it you dreamed of little princeling? I answered your questions. You are not the only one curious,_ Levi said coaxingly, banking slightly to the right as they passed over the mountain peaks he had mentioned previously. It would not be more than perhaps fifteen minutes before they reached the skylands. He could already scent the magic of it in the air, sweet and enticing on the palette.

“It’s silly,” the prince whined before he finally explained, “Since I was young… I always said I’d marry the dragon not the princess…” Eren felt even more idiotic saying it aloud as he kept his face turned away, “Took a couple lashings for Grisha to stop me from saying it… I was always a stubborn child…” As he went over Levi’s words in his head, he became annoyed. “I’m am not _little_! I’ll be seventeen years soon, so I’ve been of age for almost a year now. Grisha threatened to marry me off at fourteen, thank all that is good that he never made good on that one,” he said with a huff, arms crossing as he looked down at the dragon with offense. 

Levi’s chuckle vibrated beneath Eren. _To one as old as me, you’re always going to be little. Don’t take offense, I meant no insult. Why would it be silly to marry a dragon? We do not discriminate you know. A mate does not have to be dragon or kin, so long as the bonding is a mutually desired union, the magic that is embedded in our kind lends itself to our chosen partner. Are you surprised?_ the dragon said, considering his own words and interested in Eren’s reaction. The boy had clearly never realized such a thing was possible.

“It’s not really that I didn’t think it’d be possible… it’s more like what dragon would want the son of a dragon hunter…” Eren said with a dry laugh, obviously not amused, and deeply disturbed by his father’s actions, “Obviously, since Mikasa is dragon kin and human, it makes sense that it was _possible_ to intermix. It's just… how would I get a dragon to marry me? There’s no logic behind what I thought when I was younger. Especially since from what you said, your kind doesn’t do arranged marriages like is traditional for the ruling house.” 

_Mm that’s true, but affection grows where it will. If a dragon falls in love and decides to take you as a mate, your union would be seen the same as any other. You are not your father, isn’t that so princeling?_ Levi said idly as if it did not matter; simply put, it didn’t. Dragons were old enough to know better than to limit themselves with such prejudices. Low birthrates and now dwindling numbers had taught them long ago not to be arrogant with such matters. 

“I am not,” Eren said with fierce conviction, eyes blazing as he held Levi’s gaze. It wasn’t long before he broke the stare however to look up and see they were approaching something in the distance. “What’s that?” Eren asked, pointing out and lifting in his seat, curiosity forcing him to try and get a better look. It was almost indescribable as he squinted his eyes to try and see clearer. 

_That,_ Levi said, stretching his neck and beating his wings some to speed them towards the large, floating paradise with its lush greenery, cascading freshwater falls and springs, craggy peaks and rolling valleys that were the nesting grounds. They cleared the mist in moments and Levi elaborated as the Skylands came into full view as he circled overhead, _Is home. The last of the floating islands and the birthplace of dragons and their kin. Welcome to the Skylands princeling._

Eren was stunned into silence, eyes wide as he took in the sight. He would have asked how the hell the island floated like that, but he couldn’t, too absorbed in discerning every little detail. If the prince had to guess, it would be due to some sort of magic. 

There were numerous dragons flying in the sky around the island along with other creatures that Eren had only thought were myth. He lifted his hands to rub his eyes and face to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, then smiled when he looked again and confirmed that the images were real. Some of the dragon’s had noticed their approach and were now flying through the sky towards them.

“Should I be worried?” Eren asked, finding his voice as the threat came speeding closer. His hands dropped from Levi’s head to flex at his side to where a sword usually rested. The prince didn’t realize in his haste to clamber onto the dragon, he’d forgotten his weapon. 

_Not at all princeling,_ Levi replied, threads of excitement in his tone as he flew towards the approaching dragons and riders. He hailed them with a tilted wing and trumpeted a familiar greeting, rumbling his approval as they returned the call.

_Captain! You’re finally back!_ the only female dragon amongst the three, her small, rosegold scaled body fluttering about his eagerly, the harness on her back currently unoccupied by her mate wherever the looney druid had wandered off to, hopefully pestering the big gold elder Erwin. 

_Petra, it is good to see you,_ he replied, looking to each of the other two dragons, one stocky, ashy grey in colour and short spined wings, the other a dark burnt umber with a thick ridge spanning his head and down his neck until it flattened out into overlapping plates about his long, membranous, fine-feathered wings and a rugged, blonde human on his back.

Double lids blinked as golden eyes curiously met Eren’s while Petra hovered aside Levi, interested in the guests he’d brought with him. Smoke curled in tiny wisps from her nostrils as she sniffed the air, forked tongue flicking out to taste the boy without hesitation. _This is… You are Eren? Right? The hope of the kingdom?_

_That pipsqueak can’t be the one that holds the Captain’s--_ Oluo began huffily, before a yowl cut off his words when Levi sent a spray of ice at his backside and made him pierce his tongue with all three sets of his smaller, serrated teeth.

Levi wasn’t fast enough though, Eren frowning as he looked between the dragons. “I don’t think I could hold anything of Levi’s… he’s much bigger than me,” he said with a shrug. 

“Eren,” Mikasa called, getting the Prince’s attention, “Can we get on solid ground now?” His companions were looking quite haggard now that Eren properly turned back to look at them. 

“Levi?” Eren asked, implying the same question. He wasn’t bothered by the height, but he was afraid the two would fall off if they didn’t get out of the air soon. It was a long drop. 

The black dragon’s head bobbed, _Yes, I imagine you’re all hungry and tired, though I’ll warn you, it’s bound to get lively once we land,_ he said as he began to descend in a lazy spiral towards a sloping, but comfortable clearing where the dragon kin and other non humans that had sought refuge in the dragons’ homeland were gathered. The other dragons followed suit in familiar formation, letting Levi lead them.

They were on the ground just moments later, the landing surprisingly soft and graceful for a creature of Levi’s size and he tucked his wings in as he lowered his belly to the grass to allow his passengers to disembark. Already, familiar and curious faces were peering between trees and from homes up in their branches and larger ones from the divots of dragon dens in the mountain and whispers were already stirring.

Armin immediately jumped off Levi’s back to dive into the dirt. “Land! Glorious land!” he said, enjoying solid ground. Mikasa followed suit almost as quickly, walking on shaky legs as she tried to regain her footing. Her pale skin was quite green although she managed to not puke like Armin had. 

Eren carefully climbed down, much gentler than when he’d kicked his way up, his hand running over the top of Levi’s head then down the dragon’s side as he went. He immediately strode towards his two friends, concerned for their well-being and oblivious to the gathering of beings around them. Taking the bag off Mikasa’s shoulder, he dug around until he found two flasks of water, giving one to Mikasa before he knelt down by Armin to give him the other. “You okay? Here’s some water… do you need anything else?” he asked, patting the other boy on the back. 

“I’ll be okay… the world just needs to stop spinning…” Armin answered, voice strained as he got up onto his hands and knees to sip at the water. 

It was Kuchel that came forward without hesitation between the other curious onlookers, her steps swift and sure as she approached the mortals and her son. She immediately knelt down next to Armin and raised a scale dappled hand to press against his forehead. “Levi,” she called sternly, scolding as she spoke, “You know better. It’s flight sickness, why didn’t you give them the remedy before you flew all this way.”

Levi huffed, a chilled wisp of breath escaping between his jagged teeth. _I was... **distracted** mother,_ he excused, looking pointedly at Eren.

Kuchel followed his line of sight, clicking her tongue and shaking her head. Reaching into her sleeveless tunic, she pulled out a couple of vials filled with vaguely green liquid that once uncorked smelled heavily of mint and something similar to ginger but not, and offered one to the small blonde boy, “Drink this; it will relieve the symptoms.” She offered the other to the dragon kin girl, finally turning her serpentine eyes that bore a striking resemblance to that of her son’s. “You seem to have taken to flight naturally. I suppose it’s only to be expected of the boy that proposes to dragons fearlessly when he was but a mere child,” she observed knowingly, amused by the memory of her first meeting with the boy that was now fast approaching manhood. She couldn’t help but wonder if he would be making that proposal again now that he was older.

While Armin and Mikasa took the vials and downed them, feeling so ill they weren’t inclined to question the contents, Eren was staring intensely at the scaled woman before him. He inched his way to a standing position, green eyes on fire. 

“You… I know you…” he finally whispered, hand raising as if to reach out to touch her. The image of her face was implanted in his memory, covered with fog, but seeming to get clearer and more in focus the more he watched the woman before him. The world around them was silent, but Eren heard whispering in the wind, a child’s promise sounding clearly through the void of his mind. Before he could stop himself, he took a step forward to embrace the woman hard, his heart pounding in his chest as tears spilled out of his eyes; when had he begun to cry? 

“It’s you…” he said, gripping onto her like he did when he was a child. Now he knew. Now he remembered what they had done for him, for his mother. This woman saved him with her magic, and there was no possible way for him to completely forget about her. Her memory was burned into his brain, forgotten but not lost. 

Kuchel returned the embrace without falter, wrapping her arms around the teen as he squeezed her tightly. She stroked a hand through his hair, smiling and replying kindly, “It’s been a long time. You certainly aren’t such a little prince anymore.” 

Levi snorted, struggling with the odd feelings that surfaced in response to Eren’s reaction to his mother. How had the boy remembered her with such clarity, but not him? She looked over at him and winked as if she knew exactly what he was thinking; she probably did. _I’m going to hunt,_ he excused roughly before he turned to take off again in a rush of air.

Kuchel shook her head with a sigh as Levi departed. He was such a stubborn boy. She turned her attention back to Eren, “Though I am relieved to see you, I know what it means that you are here. I’m sorry for your loss. You must be exhausted.”

Eren immediately let go when Levi took flight, taking a step forward with his hand raised as if to stop the dragon but knew there was no way he could. “I am…” he replied, eyes tracking Levi until he was no longer in sight, before turning to Kuchel to say, “You blocked my memories… Why?” His tone wasn’t accusing or suspicious, for he just wanted the truth. Wouldn’t everything be easier if she had let him keep them? 

“A child should be a child. I did not block them; they were merely sleeping until you were ready to bear their weight. Come, let’s get the three of you fed and in bed, Levi will be returning before too long. I’m sure you all have more questions,” she said, brushing her hands over her skirts before she straightened her posture. She gestured towards the thick trees from whence she’d come, “This way.”

Eren nodded his head and helped Armin to his feet before he slung the smaller boy's arm over his shoulder. He followed behind at a leisurely pace, trying not to stare at the beings that had gathered around him. Most he couldn’t put a name to, but a couple Eren was familiar with from the story books he read as a child like elves, dwarves, centaurs, harpies, griffins. There were even some that looked almost human with a few features that gave them away like slitted eyes or long claws. Those must be the dragon kin he thought. At least most of them carried no malice in their eyes, just caution, and the prince could understand that. 

Eren couldn’t believe a place like this existed just outside his own kingdom, it was remarkable since Grisha had made it his mission to eradicate any place like it. At the thought he internally cringed and lowered his eyes; he wasn’t worthy to see the beauty of this place and its people. His own family had done them so much harm. It was then at that moment, he looked to the sky, hoping beyond hope he’d see the familiar figure of Levi flying back, but all he saw was clear skies and fluffy clouds. The dragon was nowhere to be seen. 

Kuchel lead the little group through the crowd idly, pushing a curtain of fine spearmint ivy out of the way of the door to her home. The tree was gnarled and massive, hollowed out inside, but still very much alive. It was warm, spacious with walled off rooms for the occupants and guests with proper doors, a kitchen and living space and even a ledged balcony jutting out from a monstrous branch some feet up. 

She gestured for the three youths to proceed her into the warm-lit and welcoming home, “Make yourselves at home. I’ll put on some tea and and heat some stew for you. You must be famished. I doubt Levi made any stops for you to freshen up or have a quick bite.”

“No, he didn’t,” Mikasa grumbled, both her and Armin collapsing at the dining room table as Eren stayed standing. 

“So what’s the plan? Do I need to talk to your leaders? I have to begin to persuade your people before Grisha can muster his bannermen,” Eren said, a little anxiety bleeding into his voice, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He didn’t want to sit around and eat dinner, he wanted to go to work. 

Kuchel narrowed stormy, serpentine eyes at the prince. “ _You_ are going to sit down and have something to eat and then get a good night’s rest. You need not worry about rallying; we’ve been waiting for you for a while. Now wash your hands and face and take a seat. Dinner won’t be but a moment,” she said dismissively, her tone stern and matronly, making a shooing motion with one scaled hand as she turned her attention to the kettle she placed on a bed of coals that never seemed to need tending.

Eren groaned silently, stomping his feet like a child and throwing a small hissy fit behind Kuchel’s back, but in the end did what he was told. Something about Kuchel reminded him of his mother and he couldn’t bring himself to disobey her. He went to the sink and started washing as Mikasa and Armin followed behind him. “Is Levi coming back for dinner?” he tried to ask nonchalantly, but it was obvious his effort was in vain since his friends looked back at him in surprise. As far as they knew, him and Levi hated each other. What happened while they had been left to fend for themselves on the dragon’s back? 

Kuchel chuckled and shook her head vaguely as she prepared tea and warmed the stew up. “It’s doubtful. In that form, stew would hardly provide him adequate sustenance,” she replied, “But I’m sure you’ll be seeing him before the night is out.”

The three sat down making themselves comfortable until Armin suddenly sat up straight. “In that form? Does that mean he has more than one?” Armin piped up, looking almost startled by his own break into the conversation. Eren wasn’t bothered that Armin had interrupted, now curious to the answer to the question. It was something he definitely would have missed.

“Well that's up to him now isn't it?” The woman said, a decidedly mischievous light behind her reptilian gaze as she spoke the enigmatic response. She set bowls of steaming, hearty stew in front of her guests along with their perfectly brewed and aromatic tea before she seated herself and smiled behind the rim of her own teacup.

Armin and Eren frowned in confusion while Mikasa ignored the entire conversation, heartily shoving food into her mouth to gulp down. The boys gave each other side glances, conversing without speaking before Eren shrugged and started to eat his food. He wasn’t hungry until she placed the delicious smelling food right in front of him and now he was unable to ignore the rumble in his stomach. Armin’s blue eyes were sizing up Kuchel as he cautiously took a small spoonful to test if his stomach could handle it, but it tasted amazing so he dropped his eyes and began to eat enthusiastically as well. 

Kuchel leaned back in her chair, cradling her cup between her chilled hands and still smiling as she watched the teens dig in. It had been a long time since she had last had company and longer still since it had been the sort she had now. She could feel the familiar thrum of her son’s heart within the boy-king and knew she wasn’t wrong; the two were destined to be together, after all they already shared a heart. 

It wasn’t long before the three were pushing away empty bowls, feeling quite full after such a hearty stew. “That was very good… We thank you for your generosity,” Eren said, speaking for the three of them. Manners had been ingrained within him for years now and so it was sort of a reflex although the words were true. Mikasa stood up and grabbed their bowls, carrying them to the sink to wash while Armin sidled up beside her to dry. The two were used to court duties since they helped out the servants just as much as they attended their regular roles. Eren however was stuck standing and staring at the door, itching to go look for Levi to talk to the dragon especially since his memories came back. He finally looked to Kuchel and asked, “Do you need help with anything else?” 

Kuchel smiled, setting her teacup down lightly and glancing between the two teens at the sink and their obviously antsy prince. Taking pity on the fidgeting boy, she shook her head and dismissed, “Oh no, I think that’s about all, you can retire to one of the rooms or go take a look around the village if you like, just don’t venture too far without an escort. You’d be surprised how easy it is to get lost on this island.”

Eren gave her a bright smile and was out the door before he could be lectured more. Walking through the woods hoping that he was moving in the general direction back from where he came, he couldn’t help but look up. It was evening now and the sun had set but the entire forest was filled with lights like fireflies of different colours dancing through the boughs of the trees. The prince tried to reach out and touch one but it darted away and continued to float. Curious now, Eren continued to jump and catch the little light, but he failed every time. He didn’t notice that the light had lead him somewhere until he reached a clearing where he saw the familiar silhouette of the dragon he’d been missing the last couple of hours. 

Levi was brooding, his forelegs and large head pillowed on a smoothed lump of ice comfortably and watching the stars overhead. He felt Eren before he saw him, a vague tug in his chest, familiar and almost longing. He didn’t say anything as the boy approached, pretending that he didn’t know he was there, his tail lazily shifting back and forth over the already smoothed meadowgrasses of the clearing.

“Did you eat your dinner,” Eren asked, walking around the dragon to stand beside him, looking up at the sky with a bright smile, the lights dancing in his wide green eyes. He didn’t realize it but his cheeks were flushed with colour and he could feel his heart beating hard within his chest. This dragon saved his life, he didn’t quite remember how but he knew it to be true. The world seemed so much clearer now that he remembered his promise, and his embarrassing childlike proposal. Levi had alluded to the past but Eren didn’t know if he remembered everything like he did. It would make sense that Levi would dismiss it as silly words from a small child, but Eren couldn’t help but feel nervous and excited to know the dragon’s true thoughts instead of the prince’s assumptions. 

_Are you going to scold me if I say I haven’t?_ Levi drawled, large glacial eyes shifting from the stars down to the boy before him. He made a show of stretching one wing and then the other before tucking them back in, feigning indifference. He didn’t need for Eren to know what odd yearnings he had incited in the dragon.

A wrinkle formed between Eren’s eyebrows at the emotionless tone of Levi’s voice echoing through his thoughts. “No… I just… You said you were going to hunt… So I thought… But I… I remembered you don’t have to eat as often as me…” Eren said haltingly, head turning to stare back at Levi. Why did Levi feel so… Hostile? The bubble of excitement in Eren’s chest burst as he crossed his arms over his chest, feeling supremely stupid for anxiously awaiting Levi’s return. Had he only imagined their camaraderie on the flight here? Now that he had transported Eren to the Skylands, did he want nothing to do with the prince? Eren had no idea, but he was feeling more and more defensive as the tension grew between them. 

_I did hunt, not for myself, but for the orphaned hatchlings and the village,_ Levi said after a brief pause as he stared at the frown that had formed on the boy’s brow. He hadn’t meant to… Well yes he had meant to deter the boy, but he didn’t like that little furrow between his eyes or the hurt that echoed in the heartbeat they shared between them.Yes he didn’t want Eren to know, and he didn’t want the strange feelings to grow, but not if it made the boy look like that….

Desperate to erase the tension from the youth, and hopefully himself, he offered almost shyly in apology, _Would you... like to see them?_

Eren’s eyes blew wide in surprise arms dropping from his chest to raise awkwardly in the air. “Would that be… Okay? I don’t want to… I don’t know, upset them somehow…” Eren answered, trying to be cautious although the excited thrum beneath his skin returned and he was eager to meet more fantastical beings. 

A thrumming hum sounded from the dragon’s chest as he pushed himself off the icy pillow he’d made for himself. _It should be fine, their teeth aren’t that sharp yet and they’re still pretty small, though they probably outweigh you. I wouldn’t worry though, they should be asleep at this hour,_ he replied amusedly, glancing at Eren before he sank down to his belly on the ground.

“I’m not afraid of little bites!” Eren said with a huff before his smile finally returned and he gestured with his hand, “Lead the way.” 

Levi poked Eren with his tail, chuckling throatily when the boy stumbled, obviously not having expected the contact. _Get on then. I can’t very well lead you on foot through the woods. Besides flying is faster,_ he said, cocking his head at the young man.

Eren smiled brightly, taking a step forward to place a hand on Levi’s front leg while he mapped out his way up. His one hand trailed his way across Levi’s scales as the other pulled himself up, trying to step carefully to not hurt the dragon. Once he was up, his thighs gripping the back of Levi’s head once again, Eren realized that there was probably not a whole lot he could do to hurt Levi; the dragon seemed indestructible. 

“Your scales are really soft…” Eren said, rubbing over the top of Levi’s head once again like he was want to do. He couldn’t seem to help himself. “With how tough a dragon’s skin is, I didn’t think it would be so smooth,” the Prince thought out loud, taking a chance to lightly graze the fluke like things by Levi’s head. 

The appendages reacted to Eren’s touch, flicking against his fingers almost playfully as the dragon replied, _Why do you think dragonscale armor is so highly sought after?_ There was a thick, static moment as the dragon coiled and cast off from the earth, his claws leaving divoted trenches in their wake. His wings beat a handful of times before they spread wide and he glided gracefully on the night breeze towards the nesting grounds. It was then that he continued speaking, _It’s foolish though… Humans are so blinded by greed. The armor made from dragonhide that is not freely given wears quickly, loses it luster and strength. Yet if the armor is gifted to someone worthy, fitted by the dragon that offers it, and their trust is not broken, it will never fail them. That is why riders often wear armor that matches their partners. You know, the old stories of dragonknights and the mingling of our races are not untrue._

Eren hummed for a moment, thinking through the silence as he looked up at the clear night sky. An evening flight was very refreshing and he was glad whatever tension between them was dispelled. “Makes sense… I’ve never used dragonscale before… Grisha tried to make me use it, but I refused to even touch it… It just wasn’t right…” Eren explained, leaning forward to rest his cheek on top of Levi’s head. “My Mother always said, What you allow will continue. So I never allowed myself to sink as low as to use dragonscale weaponry… No matter how good it was rumoured to be…” he added, his voice a little wistful as he recalled those conversations with his mother. 

_Noble,_ Levi commented as he banked left towards the deep valley surrounded by rocky crags and overseen by a rushing waterfall that was the nesting grounds. _You may get the chance yet princeling. With some discipline and education, you might just pass for worthy of your own armor,_ he continued after a moment, teasing in his tone, though it wasn’t untrue. And if Levi didn’t spend too much time thinking about just how Eren would look in midnight scale, no one would be the wiser.

“Perhaps… I guess we will see if I am ever worthy,” Eren replied, sounding like he didn’t think it would happen. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t work hard, it was just hard to imagine deserving something so precious. 

_I guess we will,_ Levi echoed, descending into the valley at a leisurely pace. He landed with surprising stealth, quiet as he settled outside a pocketed divot that was walled in with nesting materials, soft plantlife and scale, silks and vinery, flowers and warm, smoothed stone. He half-draped his body over the side of the nest casually, allowing for Eren to dismount and slip into it with ease as he prompted, _Go on then. I doubt they’ll even stir._ He jerked his head in the direction of the two hatchlings, one a honeyed orange colour and the other a deep scarlet, pressed closely and curled together, endearing coos sounding from them as they slept that had warm affection swirling in the smoky depths of the elder dragon’s eyes as he looked over them.

Eren stepped quietly towards them, careful of his footing no matter Levi’s assurances. They were quite large though they were only babies, bigger than Eren but obviously juvenile. Reaching forward to run his hands over the two simultaneously, they began to make little purring noises, wiggling under the pets in their slumber. “They are so adorable,” Eren said to Levi, unwavering eyes and smile warm as he caressed the babies. “I’m going to protect you and your family… I promise… You’ll be able to grow up big and strong and won’t have anything to fear from humans ever again,” he whispered to both, before he reached forward to press a kiss to the top of each of the baby dragon’s heads like his mother used to do for him. 

Levi watched the young man with interest, head tilting as he listened to Eren’s words. He hummed his approval lowly, shuffling further into the nest, protectively curving his large body around the inner perimeter as he was wont to do when he visited the hatchlings. _They are not so calm when they’re awake. The gold is Farlan and the red is Isabelle. They aren’t of the same brood, but after they were both orphaned before they had hatched, we hatched them as clutchmates; there just aren’t enough of us left to keep them, so we share the responsibility, though I‘ve spent the most time with them. They’re the last to be born this century. If this world remains as it is, they will just be the last,_ his voice was quiet and steady as he spoke from his comfortably curled position around Eren and the babies, idly laying his head on his forelegs and continuing to watch the prince with them, how he touched them with kindness, respect and reverence.

“That’s why we are going to fight,” Eren said, his eyes lifting to meet Levi’s, burning with confidence, “We aren’t going to let that happen… There will be many more dragons born… And they won’t have to stay here if they so choose. If I am-... When I am king, our land will be safe for these little ones and more…” He held Levi’s gaze for a moment more before looking back down and giving the hatchlings one more gentle rub. A frown was starting to form on Eren’s face the longer he stared at the babies, a defined wrinkle showing between his brows. Standing up, he suddenly turned away, beginning to make his way out of the nest though he had to climb over Levi’s tail. His steps were gaining weight with every movement, his anger showing through the farther he got away. Eren should be doing something, anything, instead of lazing around. He was supposed to be leading a rebellion, something he kept promising to do, and yet he’d come all the way here and was no closer to defeating Grisha from when he left the castle. The prince was infuriated with his own incompetence; if he didn’t succeed then those children would die. An entire species was counting on him and he was _failing_.


	4. Verse IV: Fantasy

Levi had not followed the boy, had let Eren find his own way back towards the village and instead had stayed with Isabel and Farlan into the wee hours of the morning, quietly brooding again, lost in his thoughts as he watched over them. He rolled over Eren’s words and his own in his head. The boy was certainly determined, but he was rash too and Levi was sure that the coming days were going to be turbulent.

He made his way from the nesting grounds as the first glow of dawn was budding on the horizon, to the wide expanse where the craggy terrain of the peaks met the grassy flatlands and thick wood; the Skylands training grounds were sprawling and already active. His squad was waiting in their usual place, sleepy-eyed, but alert as soon as he landed, immediately readying themselves for aerial warm ups, while across the field, dragon kin, elves, assorted fae, and a handful of centaurs were sparring and going through measures with different weapons and positions. Levi stretched his wings and one harsh call rumbled from him before he took off and his troupe followed suit, falling into formation familiarly. So began his first day back in the land of his birth. 

It had taken a long time to walk back to Kuchel’s home, but Eren wasn’t tired when he got there even though everyone else was asleep. He paced for a while in the kitchen before he couldn’t take the circling of his thoughts anymore and went to borrow Mikasa’s sword. She wouldn’t mind, and although it was weighted for Mikasa’s arm alone, Eren would make due and use the sword for drills. So that’s where he was, outside of Kuchel’s house, practicing with his sword for several hours, enough so that by the time his friends had awoken and come to find him, his shirt was drenched and he was breathing hard. He didn’t stop though, swinging the sword gracefully as he kept control of the steel. The muscles on the prince’s arms were even shaking, but that didn’t stop him. All that he could focus on was the many vows he had made, to his mother, to his friends, to the hatchlings, to Levi. Failure was not an option. 

“Eren…” Mikasa said, her voice quiet but managing to keep the waiver out of her tone, “You cannot…” 

“I can and I will,” Eren interrupted, doing one more swing before he lowered the sword and walked towards a fallen tree where he had left a cup of water, “If I do not train, I cannot win.” 

“If you overtrain and don’t sleep like you are, you won’t last to see the battle against Grisha…” Armin said, nonplussed as sharp eyes pierced through the prince. Eren knew he was right, Armin was always right, but that didn’t change the way he felt. 

“I know that… I just can’t sit here and do nothing… I need to make sure I’m ready…” Eren said before running a hand through his sweat soaked hair. 

Kuchel overheard the words, smiling inwardly. So much fire in Eren, like when he’d been just a little boy and she had no doubt that he would succeed, perhaps with the right partner to balance that fire… “Since you all seem to be feeling restless and energetic this morning, why don’t you go have a look at the training grounds? I’m sure the others are there already and it couldn’t hurt to practice with more comrades, no?” she said pleasantly as she swept away leaf debris from the doorway to her home, “Plus, there’s much more room there for sparring.”

Eren’s eyes widened for a moment before his smile came back, beginning to bounce in enthusiasm. “Yes let’s do that! Thank you Kuchel!” he spiked excitedly, gathering his things then fussing over his friends to hurry them up. “We will be back later,” he called over his shoulder, herding his friends into forest as they grumbled over their lack of breakfast. 

“Do you even know where we are going?” Armin groaned as Mikasa dragged her feet.

“No,” Eren answered, “But it’s not like this place is that big… I’m sure we will find it eventually.” 

Eventually they did find it, but only after mid day had already passed. His friends were groaning and Eren was starting to regret his actions when they finally fell out into a clearing with leaves and branches in their hair. The prince could almost scream in excitement when he finally feasted his eyes on the training grounds. Beings sparring, flying, performing complex maneuvers on the ground and the sky, Eren could hardly believe his eyes. _This_ was where he was meant to be.

As the teens stumbled into the open grassland of the training grounds, they interrupted a handful of other apparent youths practicing archery. A few arrows whistled past them and embedded themselves in the leather dummies some feet behind the trio with dull thuds. There was a shrill whistle and a few shouts as the group practicing approached them. The first to make it to the prince and his companions was a tall centaur with citrine eyes and the speckled lower body of an Appaloosa stallion, bare chested, long-faced with sharp features and two toned hair to match his hide. He cantered towards them, skidding to a halt abruptly, and sending clumps of grass and dirt around the newcomer’s ankles, and looked down at them scrutinizingly. 

His narrowed eyes shifted from one to the other, calculating and settled on the green eyed brunette. “You’re the prince?” he questioned haughtily, cocking his head and frowning, crossing his arms over his chest, and jostling the bow on his back idly, “You don’t look like the supposed saviour to me. That sword isn’t even yours… It’s made for a woman’s grip.” 

Eren barely paid the centaur a second glance, head turned around him to look for Levi, although he lied to himself and said he was just taking in his surroundings. “I am Prince Eren,” he said absently, eyes narrowing not at the insult to himself, but to his companion who was the best sword wielder he knew, no matter Mikasa’s gender. “Why would I bring a sword soaked in the blood of your people and passed down to me from my father, King Grisha? My guard Mikasa was nice enough to lend me her weapon…” he said, gesturing to the girl at his side. “She could destroy you even if her blade is lighter,” he added, handing the sword back to Mikasa as she glared up at the centaur with piercing eyes, daring him to insult Eren more. 

The centaur barked a laugh, and pawed at the grass with one dark hoof. “I’ve no doubt about her strength. The insult wasn’t in that the blade is hers, a woman’s, but that you do not have one to call your own. She is dragon kin, but you… Well I guess we’ll just have to see what you’re made of _Highness_ ,” he replied, raising a challenging brow and smiling smugly at Eren.

“For your sake, I hope you are as skilled with a blade as you are eager to run your mouth,” Mikasa spit, taking a step forward intent on chasing away any threat to Eren. But she backed down immediately as soon as Eren’s hand came to rest on her shoulder, gentle but commanding her to step back silently. 

Eren nodded his head, determination in his eyes as he looked at the horse man before him. “Dull blade or sharp?” Eren asked, before he turned to make his way to a rack of weapons for both sparring and actual fighting. He knew nothing he said would make any difference to those who doubted him, he must prove himself capable. 

“Sharp,” the stallion replied, his smirk turning dangerous as he reached back to his left flank and pulled his own sword, rolling his wrist and palming the pommel of the familiar blade. Then he took up position, gesturing with his unoccupied hand tauntingly at Eren.

The prince took his time, walking up and down the rack to pick his weapon, purposely going slowly to make fun of the centaur standing in position. He finally picked up a broadsword and swung it, resting the weight and balance in his hand. A crooked grin lifted on his face; this one will do. 

Turning to face his opponent, Eren held his sword at the ready as his green eyes surveyed the ground. “I should know the name of the opponent I’m defeating,” Eren called, “I can’t keep calling you horseface in my head.” 

The centaur tossed his head restlessly, rolling his shoulders. “Jean Kirstein and it’s to that name you’ll be begging for mercy,” he retorted, snorting and abruptly charging aggressively at Eren, faster and larger than any human the prince had likely ever fought and he certainly wasn’t above using it to his advantage.

Instead of holding still and waiting for his opponent to rush him, Eren charged back, quickly running towards Jean with his sword raised as the centaur galloped towards him. They both swung as hard as they could and the sound of steel clashing together rang out through the training ground. Both swords broke apart immediately, vibrating harshly but neither boy dropped their weapon. Eren was the first to recover, planting his foot to pivot and strike at Jean again, showing no mercy as their swords came together once again. Jean had the advantage of height and length, but Eren had been taught to face an opponent on horseback and though it was not the same thing it was similar in principle and he seemed to have dexterity over the four legged centaur. 

It went on some minutes like that, clashing and breaking apart, circling around one another before one or both of them lunged forward again. The group of other trainees had all gathered around to watch with curious interest, Armin and Mikasa included, but that was more so because Mikasa wanted to keep a close eye on Eren, ready to intervene any moment and Armin wanted to keep an eye on both of them and a hold on the protective girl.

Jean was getting agitated, tired of the cat and mouse and more so of the smug little grin that he kept glimpsing whenever he looked at Eren. He was irritated by his own intolerance for greater flexibility given his lower half’s form and annoyed by the time and effort it was actually taking in order to put the prince down. But even though Eren had been able to hold his own well enough, he was still not used to battle with inhuman beings and eventually he miscalculated. Jean reared as Eren swiped wide at him, hooves making harsh contact with and toppling the other male to the ground as he brought his own sword down and he hadn’t really meant to, but he had misjudged the momentum and couldn’t stop the follow through when his blade sank into Eren’s shoulder, close, but not dangerously to his heart.

Eren screamed out in pain as he felt the metal slide into his skin, ripping through the tendons and ligaments of his shoulder all the way threw to his back. He immediately began clutching the blade with his hand on instinct to still its movement and inevitably cut the meat of his palm deeply. Everything was still for a moment before Jean reared back in shock and let go of his blade as multiple people that were watching came running towards them. 

“Stay back,” Eren commanded, still holding onto the blade from his position laying down. 

“Eren,” Mikasa yelled, listening to her princes command though it took every ounce of willpower.

“You’re hurt. You need a healer,” Armin cried, trembling from the amount of blood that now soaked Eren’s shirt. 

“Just a little scratch… I can still fight…” Eren spit through gritted teeth beginning to sit up between groans and curses. Eren ignored the protests of those around him and grabbed the blade by the hilt to rip it out. It wasn’t the smartest decision since keeping the blade in stopped his blood from flowing freely, but he couldn’t fight with the weapon hanging off him. 

The prince threw the bloodied blade at Jean, the centaur standing shocked a few feet away, then slowly maneuvered onto one knee and then the other, before taking a shaky step to pull his body off the ground. The wound was pouring blood now and Eren’s breaths were wheezing gasps, but he managed to use his sword to push himself up unto his feet. His legs shook and he stumbled once before gaining his bearings though his left arm swung beside him loosely, his wound making it completely useless. But that didn’t deter the prince at all, lifting his sword with one hand to point at Jean and yell, “You haven’t beaten me yet! Fight me!”

There was a roar like thunder overhead as Eren yanked the sword free; Levi faltered in the air as pain lanced through his left shoulder and wing joint. He managed to regain his equilibrium swiftly, circled and without even seeing, took off towards the gathered group where Eren no doubt was. The pain still ricocheted, throbbing relentlessly and urging him to be swift. 

His form cast a shadow over the crowd and many smartly made space; even Jean wisely backed off as the dragon descended on them. Levi slammed down in front of Eren just after he’d finished challenging the centaur again, overhearing the words and growing angry. He snarled, baring his teeth as he looked around the group, narrowed eyes traveling from one to the next quickly until they settled on Eren. _Don’t be an idiot Eren. This fight is finished,_ his mental voice carried out, blunt finality and scolding command in the tone, not at all impressed by the boy’s stubbornness.

“No it’s… No it’s not!” Eren yelled back, taking a shaky step forward, challenging Levi’s word. He wouldn’t back down; he couldn’t. But there were black spots in his peripheral vision now, dancing away just as he went to look at them. He could feel sweat rolling down his forehead, not from heat but from the effort it took to stay standing. When he thought about it, he couldn’t feel the bright sun beating down on him anymore. Instead he felt oddly cold. Why did he feel cold? Why did he feel like he couldn’t think? His body felt cold, but his shoulder and side felt warm and sticky, wetness soaking through his clothes. It was fine though. “I can still fight! I can defeat him, I won’t fail,” he said through gritted teeth, weakness overtaking him and forcing him to fall to one knee before the great black dragon. Eren wouldn’t fall though, he kept himself upright to hold Levi’s gaze. 

_I say it is. Jean may be the thicker side of a horse’s ass, but he is not the enemy,_ the dragon replied gruffly. He snorted as he looked down upon Eren’s kneeling and vaguely swaying form, the haunting ache of the wound beating in tandem with the rhythm of the heart they shared. _Look at you… You cannot even stand on your own. It’s enough now. Stop being foolish._

Eren was quiet for a moment, body shaking as his sword finally fell from his hand. His face scrunched up in confusion. “What’s it… gonna take… to prove… myself… to you,” Eren said between harsh panting breaths before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted onto the ground. 

“He’s dying!” Mikasa screeched finally running forward and collapsing on her knees in front of Eren, hands frantically hovering over his unconscious body. Armin was not long after her assessing Eren’s condition and would from his other side. “He’s lost a lot of blood, we need a healer,” he said firmly looking to Levi for help. 

_The wound isn’t fatal,_ Levi stated, shifting his left wing as it ached dully. _I’ll take him,_ he continued after a moment’s pause, maneuvering to pick the unconscious boy up tenderly between his foreclaws. He did not acknowledge the protests of the dragonkin girl and the blond scholar, turning and taking off with one great beat of his wings that made all those within close range squint in the resulting gush of air that washed over them. He ignored the steady pulsing throb of pain and swiftly brought Eren back to the village, shifting into his human form once he’d landed and carrying the prince into his mother’s home. 

Kuchel did not seem surprised to see them, gesturing for her son to deposit the young man on the already cleared table before she shooed him out so she could work. Her hands were already moving over Eren’s body, a soft hum on her lips as Levi lingered in the door, serpentine silver-blue glued to the limp boy on the table. It was a frightening reality; this could be the future… 

It was when Eren twitched and a whine sounded from him that the short, raven-haired and scaled man turned away, a determined set to his jaw and drawn lips. He would not allow it… Eren would not fail. 

It was a couple of hours later when Eren finally opened his eyes, mind foggy as he tried to remember how he’d gotten back to Kuchel’s warm and minty smelling house. He tried to sit up, but gasped in pain as his hand flew up to clutch his shoulder that was now freshly bandaged. A mix of memories started flooding back to him, particularly the glare of anger that Levi’d fixed him with before he’d passed out. Dry scrubbing his face with his good hand, he fell back to the table with a groan; nothing was going his way. 

“Ahh wonderful, you’re awake,” Kuchel’s voice sounded pleasantly and she bustled over to him with a steaming cup in her hands, “Drink this. It’ll take care of the pain while the flesh knits back together. Shouldn’t be long now. It’s the sinew and nerve that takes so long, bone and skin is easy.”

“That’s… good to know…” Eren said haltingly, sitting up gingerly so that he could drink the broth. He felt quite sheepish as Kuchel’s silver gaze seemed to pierce through him. The prince could feel he was in for a lecture, it was just a matter of when.

The scaled witch hummed thoughtfully as she watched the boy drink the vaguely bittersweet liquid from the cup, taking it from him once he'd finished. “It seems the fire in you has been left untended for too long. It is rash and reckless… You must be careful not to let it consume you. You must find balance. You cannot win a war with fire alone; it does not distinguish between that which it will burn if it is left without steady guidance,” she said as she set the cup down on the counter and leaned back against it idly, her arms crossing her waist comfortably, though her slitted silvery gaze was unwavering and knowing.

“I’ve been trying my whole life to contain the… “fire” as you call it…,” Eren said before he filled the air with a humourless laugh, “My mother… she was like water to me… ready to curb my fire or even put it out…” His brow scrunched, “And even though I feel lost without her… I know I have to learn to control myself… I just wish… I had someone by my side, not to control me like she did, but stand with me as equals ready to fight for what we feel is right…” Eren’s ramble trailed off before he realized what he’d said. Looking up to Kuchel in panic, he rushed in an attempt to clarify, “I don’t mean I don’t have _anyone_! I have you and Mikasa and Armin and all those who choose to fight against Grisha… I don’t even know what I’m trying to say.” Eren cringed hard at his lack of coherency and his face fell into his hand to hide his embarrassment. 

“Ahh, but I do,” Kuchel said, a small curl to her lips. “I think,” she paused, a fingertip at her chin as she spoke, “That you have probably already found what you are searching for, you just haven’t realized it yet. You must have patience. Don’t let your fire rush you Eren. Yes, we all want to see this world anew, but brashness will only bring us heartache. Take your time here. Learn and know the ones who would bleed for you. The lives of so many rest upon your shoulders. This is a heavy burden to bear alone; fire can be smothered. You will need bonds to keep you from getting lost in the smoke. You have to learn trust again little hurricane. Why don’t you start with Levi as he’ll be the one that bares you into battle?” She tilted her head and smiled fondly at him as she finished speaking, her eyes alight with affectionate mischief as she watched him.

“He thinks I’m a complete idiot,” Eren groaned, his entire body deflating as he fell back against the bed, “You should have seen how angry he was earlier! I thought for a moment he planned to finish the job… No matter how hard I try to prove to him I am worthy, it’s almost like I make it worse for myself…” Suddenly, Eren’s eyes opened wide before he shot up again, ignoring the now lessening pain to look at Kuchel in excitement. “You’re his mother! You can tell me how to please him!” Eren said brightly, leaning towards her like she contained the secrets of the world, and if he thought hard about it, she probably did. 

Kuchel giggled behind her hand, intrigued and endeared by the boy’s conclusions. “I don’t think he thinks you are a _complete_ idiot,” she began amusedly, “He wouldn’t have been so angry if he didn’t care about you. But you are young and bullheaded. Even though he may not always express it well, I think he likes you.” She hummed a moment, shifting her weight against the counter as if she were debating something deeply, “If you want to impress him, there are a few things I could suggest, but are you sure you want to commit yourself to gaining his trust? You’ll have to trust him in return.”

Eren looked down and frowned as he thought to himself for a moment. Didn’t he already trust Levi? Yes…? Well no, he did think he was going to be eaten a few hours earlier. But the prince could see himself trusting the dragon, like he trusted Mikasa and Armin. Perhaps even more so since his two friends had always held him up on a pedestal and created this sort of barrier between them. He’d never wanted to treat them like servants, didn’t want them to _be_ his servants, and yet that is how their relationship ended up. Levi didn’t hold Eren up but also didn’t look down upon him either. They seemed to be equals, something that Eren truly desired. 

“I can learn to trust him, if he learns to trust me… It’s something we could work on together, isn’t it?” Eren said, nodding to himself at his answer. He was willing to trust the dragon so why not at least try. 

“I would say so,” Kuchel agreed, smiling knowingly as she leaned in towards him, her head tilted curiously, “Well, to start, do you have any knowledge about befriending dragons?”

“I have absolutely no idea… I was taught a lot about _killing_ dragons, but I don’t think that would be very applicable,” Eren answered, a touch of sarcasm in his tone. He felt like a fish out of water, completely out of his element. The prince would do whatever Kuchel told him though. Whatever it would take. 

The woman hummed her approval, leaning back once more, making herself comfortable against the counter as she regarded the boy. “Dragons are rather odd creatures. They're very particular about some things that may seem odd to you. For example, should you want to gain my son's favour, gifts are always a good way to start. Levi prefers to decorate his den with stones, smooth, coloured ones that can be found beneath the northern falls of the island where the water smooths their edges until they all shimmer like gemstones. I imagine, he would find the gesture endearing if you were to leave one for him daily, just be sure you think of him while you pick them out and he will no doubt keep them. Hmm, he'd also probably never say so, but he favours the freshwater lobster that populate the west lake. If he accepts the gifts, you could always show your appreciation through song. They so love a good melody. If he feels generous, he might even join you. Dragonsong is quite beautiful. You wouldn't think so, but they have a wide range of tones and notes.” She paused, eyeing the obviously eager young man, “And lastly, when you're sure you trust him, you must fly. Beyond the clouds and then let yourself fall. If you trust him, he will catch you.”

Eren sat stunned for a moment, perplexed by the long and rather complicated list of requirements to gain Levi’s proposal. “And if I do all those things to his liking… He will approve of me?” he asked, brows furrowed as his eyes turned to the ceiling while he tried to mentally keep track of all that Kuchel said. Colourful stones, lobster, song, and fall. The last one seemed the most daunting but the prince figured he would deal with it when it happened. 

“Oh yes, I think you’ll be surprised by his receptiveness to the gestures,” Kuchel assured, reaching to pat his cheek fondly, “If you do all of that, I have a feeling, you’ll be inseparable in no time. Now then let’s see if that wound’s all closed up and good as new, shall we? Is there any pain?”

~~

It didn’t take long for Eren to be fully healed, but he wasn’t allowed to leave quite yet since he was ordered to eat and get a good night's rest. Armin and Mikasa never came back, and he was worried, but when he asked, Kuchel assured that his friends were being taken care of which helped soothe his anxiety a bit. Remaining calm, having a good meal, and a full night's rest allowed Eren to consider his plan of attack. 

Early the next day, he had geared up with proper directions from Kuchel and trekked his way to the northern reach of the island where a series of waterfalls could be found. He spent the entire morning picking through rocks along the river, managing to soak himself through several times over. He found a few that were shiny and some that were smooth like silk, but his greatest find was a stone the size of his head striped with several layers of green and an almost glittering smattering of crystals strewn throughout. It weighed a ton, along with being weighed down with the amount of rocks he’d already picked that filled his pockets and rucksack, it took him quite a bit of time to make his way to the den that Kuchel said Levi had claimed. 

When he finally reached the opening, after climbing a literal mountain with all the damn rocks, Eren collapsed like a starfish, some of his rocks spilling out to create a little mound that Levi couldn’t miss. Eren laid sprawled like that for a while, just breathing deeply, unconcerned with time. Kuchel has said he should just leave the rocks and go, but since Levi seemed to spend most of his time training, or hunting, or with the hatchlings, Eren _thought_ he had some time to rest. He thought wrong. 

Levi felt him before he heard him when Eren approached the open mouth of his den, carved out in the cliffside like most of his winged kin. Why the boy was there, he could not be sure. They had not spoken since Eren’s injury. He’d been so angry with him, so worried by his recklessness when he’d felt the echoing of the wound in himself as if it were his own. His large nostrils flared, inhaling deeply the scent that wafted into his den; the boy didn’t smell of upset and indignation, but something more like pride and anticipation and sweat. Perhaps Eren had come to make amends then? 

He was slow in moving to the entrance of the den he called home, indecisive in how to best greet the teen. He was silent for a long moment, just watching Eren as the boy sprawled on the smoothed stone outcropping that preceded the entrance of his residence. His gaze settled on the small uneven mound of shined and rounded stones no more than a foot from the boy and he blinked, dual eyelids shuttering his glacial stare twice over in his confused astonishment. Was Eren _courting_ him?

_Impossible…_ his voice echoed unbidden, disbelieving and refusing the vague flutter of excitement that sparked in his chest. Eren could not know such rituals, so whatever the stones were for, they probably did not mean what his instincts were assuring him they must. 

Eren sighed loudly before finally sitting up, completely unaware he was now being watched from the shadows of the cave, not unlike when they first met. Grabbing the giant rock, he heaved it over his body and began to arrange the smaller stones around its magnificent shining beauty. He hummed to himself as he worked a smile on his lips before he sat back on his ankles and looked at his work. “I wonder if he’ll like it,” he asked himself before his brows furrowed, “Maybe I should go get more… I guess I was only supposed to leave one, but the more the merrier I think…” 

Levi could feel his ridged brow furrow as he watched the boy situating the pretty stones around an impressive centerpiece. It really looked like courtship, but he was sure it couldn’t be. If it was courtship… Well, he didn’t know how to feel about that… But it didn’t matter because it wasn’t and he would prove it to himself. 

He finally stepped out into the light, his large head coming to hover close to Eren, casting a broad shadow over him as he mumbled to himself and shifted the stones about indecisively. _What’re those for?_ he inquired directly, determined to affirm to the ridiculous almost hopeful fluttering in his chest and now his belly that it was _not_ what it appeared to be.

Eren jumped a foot into the air with a squeak from his kneeling position, falling back onto his ass with a startled expression. When he got passed his shock to understand Levi’s words, the prince's cheeks and neck flushed bright red before he turned his face away in embarrassment. “Hi Levi… I didn’t think you’d be here… You weren’t supposed to be here, I was supposed to just leave them for you…” Eren rambled then his eyes darted back to sneak a glance at the dragon. Levi seemed oddly attentive, much more than his usual stoic indifference allowed. Looking down at his display, Eren lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck and said, “They are a gift… I know I’m only supposed to leave one a day, but I got carried away when I was picking through rocks down at the waterfall…” He took a calming breath before he finally looked up to meet Levi’s gaze, “Do you like them?” 

It took a long moment for Levi to wrap his mind around what the startled and clearly embarrassed young man was rambling, blinking reptilian lids at him dumbly for several seconds when Eren finally looked up at him. Well yes, he did like them… Very much. But had Eren alluded to there being more of these _gifts_ and that he had been following some instruction… A _ritual_? It was strikingly like courtship, but there was something, a naivety about it that made him doubt the young man’s comprehension of what exactly he was doing. Even so, he could not quell the flattered warmth that spread through him and soothed the eager flutter, sated it as he regarded the offerings in question. So many...all of them lovely and he could already imagine where he would place them in his den. Perhaps it wasn’t courtship or perhaps it was, either way, he planned to keep them. Eren had said they were a gift after all. 

_They’re very pretty. I like them,_ he answered abruptly as if he’d only just remembered that Eren was waiting for one and continued with a note of bashfulness, inclining his head ever so slightly, _Thank you Eren._

“Really?” Eren asked, pushing himself forward onto his knees to shuffle towards the dragon in excitement, green eyes glowing with happiness. “Do you want more? I can get more! Although I think the big one is the best… it reminded me of your scales so even though it was extremely heavy hauling it up this damn mountain, I had to give it to you,” Eren rambled, bouncing where he kneeled as his youthful exuberance shined through, “I’m so glad you like them!”

Levi hummed, the sound deep and thrumming with his appreciative approval and his head bobbed in the air affirmatively. _I wouldn’t refuse them if you decided to gift me more,_ he said, his squalling gaze hooded and surprisingly warm with fondness. He was both embarrassed and endeared by Eren’s indirect compliment, inwardly preening that the boy had compared his scale to the exquisitely shimmering stone and had put in such effort to bring it to him. 

“Okay!” Eren said, scrambling up to his feet before he took off running down the path of the winding cliff. Turning around to run backwards Eren waved his arm as he called, “I’ll be back!” 

The rest of the day was spent picking through rocks and filling his pockets before running back up the hill to dump them off in front of Levi’s den. The mound of rocks steadily became bigger and bigger and by the time the sun was setting Eren had collapsed in a heap once again. “There…” he panted, rolling onto his side as he watched Levi inspect the last batch, “I think I got every pretty rock at the waterfall… The rest of your village is going to have to look for them elsewhere now…” 

_I believe it,_ Levi’s voice sounded amusedly as he eyed the pile of stones Eren had retrieved, impressed and flattered by the quality and the amount. Eren certainly didn’t do things halfway. He was lounging in a half-circle around Eren and the lovely gifts, had been for some time, watching as the boy had left and returned over and over again and the mound had grown steadily before him. He smiled inwardly as he looked down at the exhausted boy sprawled on his side, flushed and sweating. Levi could smell it, and oddly enough, he found it wasn’t unpleasant, like the meadows in the morning, dewy, with the mist that clung to them and vaguely sweetened with the sleeping flowers that called them home. Not unpleasant at all…

He exhaled a thick, chilled breath over the boy, the softer spined tendrils that crowned his head cool and soothing as they ghosted around Eren, trying to provide him some relief from his overheated state in a show of his appreciation. The sun was sinking low on the horizon, painting Levi’s dark scales with fiery splashes of colour, dancing with each movement of his body. _It’s getting late Princeling. Are you staying?_

Eren sighed in pleasure at the icy chill of Levi’s breath, his overheated body enjoying it immensely. Propping his head up in his hand with his elbow digging into the dirt, Eren blinked at Levi, surprised by the question. “I don’t want to intrude on your space,” Eren said bowing his head politely at Levi, “But if you don’t mind, I can sleep out here…” He flopped onto his back to look up at the darkening sky, picking out the first stars of evening. The prince couldn’t help but compare the scenery to the one he was used to back home; bright and vibrant to gloomy and downtrodden. “I haven’t eaten since your mom shoved breakfast down my throat this morning, but I saw some kind of fruit trees around as I was walking… I could go pick them…” 

_Unnecessary. I have some stored inside. Come on then,_ the dragon said, nudging the boy with his nose in an almost playful manner, breathing more chilly and vaguely minty breath on him. The day had turned out nothing like he’d been expecting and he found that though it was as far from expected as could be, he did not feel like it had been wasted nor was he disappointed. Eren had showed determination, endurance and perseverance. Levi was impressed.

“I’m going, I’m going!” Eren laughed, playfully shoving at Levi’s snout before he got to his feet. Wiping off his trousers and shirt, he stretched his aching muscles before making his way towards the cave. “It’s really dark in there,” Eren said, pausing just before diving into the blackness, “You must have some really good vision…” 

Levi hummed, _Indeed. Give me a moment and you will have some light._ He curled his tail around the pile of stones and carefully maneuvered them inside the entrance as he followed Eren inside his den. As soon as he entered, there was a cool whisper, familiar and somewhat eager for the company, taking form seconds later in liquid orbs that flickered and glowed like molten blue flame and lit up the Dragon’s tidy and spacious home. Hollowed out and smooth from scale and claw over the years as he grew larger and expanded the space. To the right of the entrance, there were the food stores Levi had mentioned in baskets and on shelves that also held an impressive collection of books that were of course too small to properly be read in his current form. On the right was his bed, a nest of stones not unlike the ones Eren had given to him, situated in intricate mosaics along the wall and floor, a number of feathers and soft silks weaved in with them, a few large griffin down pillows and a number of smooth dark scales finishing off the comfortable nest he had been building on for decades. _How’s that? Make yourself at home now that you can see,_ Levi teased as he pushed the cache of new stones closer to his nest and already was considering where to place each one.

“It’s beautiful,” Eren said immediately, looking around with wide eyes, trying to ignore the rumbling in his stomach until he couldn’t. Keeping his head on a swivel, he soon gravitated towards the fruit then grabbed it off the shelf before shoving the first piece he grabbed in his mouth. “Mmm… delicious,” the prince managed to say, cheeks puffed as they were filled with fruit, and a little dribble of juice dripped from his lips down to his chin. Swallowing hard, he wiped the excess liquid on his forearm then asked, “What is it?” 

_What’s what Princeling?_ Levi questioned idly, carefully nudging one of the stones away from the pile and adding it to his already spacious nest, shifting it several times before he thrummed his approval vibrantly in the back of his throat.

“The fruit! What’s it’s called! It’s really really good,” Eren said, flopping down in a wooden chair he was surprised to see. Why would Levi have a chair when he was way too big to sit? Maybe for when his mother visited? Eren had no idea and didn’t feel like asking, so he continued to wolf down the fruit, careful to eat around the pit. 

_Oh, they’re Snow Peaches,_ Levi replied offhandedly, his head tilting to the side to glance at the boy lounging in his reading chair for just a moment, turning back to his task as he continued, _They only ripen in cool temperatures and far as I know, only grow here in the Skylands anymore._

“Really, really, good… Because of the trade embargoes, we don’t really get different kinds of fruit into the kingdom,” said Eren then choked down four more snow peaches in record time. Patting his now round belly, he slumped even further into the chair with a sigh and a yawn, smiling with content. 

_It’s too bad. The fresh fruit would go a long way in alleviating the food shortages through the kingdom. We do try to supply some when we can, but it’s become rather dangerous. Grisha’s hunters lay in wait everywhere these days. Greed’s become the currency it seems,_ Levi commented, nosing another of the stones into a niche between two others already a part of the nest. He and his team had been the ones to make the trips probably more than any others, able to carry the largest quantities without being caught. But even they had struggled in the last half year as Grisha had managed to add some nonhuman beings to his own ranks, willing to set aside his prejudices in lieu of gaining more power. Those of their own kind that hunted them for the King were not so easily shaken as mere men.

“Peasants wouldn’t need the skylands fruit if Grisha didn’t sell the grain they needed to save for winter…” Eren grumbled, his face falling into a frown but his eyes remained closed. The exhaustion of the day was catching up with the prince, not having realized how much energy he had managed to use carting stones up to Levi’s den all day. “We will fix it though…” Eren said with a sigh, face relaxing back into a smile, “Me and you… We will fix it… together…” His voice trailed off into soft snores, slouching so far into the chair in his slumber that he was precariously hanging off and about to fall. 

The Dragon hummed his affirmation though the boy likely didn’t hear it, given his quiet snores followed after his voice tapered. Levi looked over at him, cocking his head as his gaze ran over the uncomfortably slouched position of Eren’s body in the chair and yet, the boy somehow slept soundly. He must have been exhausted; not surprising given just how many stones Eren had toted up to his den. He snorted amusedly, shaking his head vaguely, endeared and very much flattered by the day’s events. Eren was just so genuine and determined. If this _was_ courtship, Levi might actually reciprocate.

He heard the boy exhale a heavy breath as if he could hear Levi’s musings and the elder male chuckled. He turned his upper body towards Eren and carefully picked the slumbering youth up. He shouldn’t let him sleep like that or Eren would be too sore to do much of anything the following day. He shuffled about, the stones of his nest clacking together mutedly underfoot as he moved to settle Eren onto some of the plush pillows some feet away from him. He tenderly tucked the boy’s limbs in comfortably, nosing at his head and back for a moment in a show of affection before he turned back to what he had been doing. It would no doubt take most of the night to add the new stones to his nest and he still hadn’t found the perfect place for the largest one.

Usually, Eren slept like the dead, unmoving to the point he looked like he wasn’t breathing. But this night, he couldn’t seem to stop moving, rolling and snorting, running and kicking in his sleep. He wouldn’t remember the dreams he had when he was awake, but they seemed to be eventful. One thing his body couldn’t shake was the chilly air of the cavern that was Levi’s den, along with Levi’s cold breath. It made Eren shiver and goosebumps rise on his skin every so often, making the sleeping young man whine in his sleep and then roll over to reach for something to cover himself with. Eren didn’t manage to find a blanket, but he did find Levi’s wing; leathery, soft, and above all warm, his dark scale apparently holding the heat from the sun for long periods even after night had come. He wrapped himself in the appendage with a happy sigh, finally curling into a restful and long sleep. 

Levi gave a sort of start when he felt the tug at his wing, head turning towards the touch immediately. He blinked both sets of eyelids, not once, but twice, perplexed as he shifted the appendage ever so slightly to see Eren curled up beneath it, the smooth, leathery membrane tucked in comfortably around him. How the boy had managed to nestle himself in so swiftly was beyond any magic Levi knew of. He didn’t know what to make of it, but he didn’t pull his wing away, instead shifting it back over Eren to retain the warmth he had obviously been seeking. He eventually turned back to his nesting and he didn’t know when, but he had started to hum a quiet lullaby, unadmittedly and unexpectedly content with the boy’s company.


	5. Verse V: Dream

Eren stayed tucked into Levi’s wing the entire night. When he awoke in the early morning, it was a slow ascent into consciousness. The prince felt warm, safe, and surrounded by a faint but comforting scent that he knew the smell of but couldn’t quite come up with a name for. When he cracked his eyes open, it took a moment to realize that he was still in Levi’s den, which made him frown. Wasn’t he going to sleep outside? Oh well, for whatever reason he was here and he was comfortable. “Levi?” he called, voice still thick with sleep and he remained unmoving, quite content to stay in Levi’s warm nest. 

The dragon shifted, lifting his wing, stretching it out after hours of having it tucked in around the boy, when Eren stirred and called for him. He was just making final adjustments to his nest, all of the stones Eren had given him finding their homes as if they’d always belonged there. He was pleased with the addition of more colour and glimpses of shimmering quartz; it was exactly what had been missing. _Hm? Good morning Princeling, Did you sleep well? It certainly sounded like it,_ he replied, vague amusement in his tone as he greeted the groggy young man, poking Eren in the side playfully with the tip of his tail without looking over at him.

“I did,” Eren said with a lazy smile as he sat up, unaware of the use he got out of Levi’s wing, “I didn’t expect your den would be a warm and cozy place to sleep… Sorry for not going outside like I said I would…”

 _No apology is required. I could have woken you if I’d so desired. It would have been too cold for you had you slept outside. It is mild in here because my scale retains the sun’s heat and warms it some. It is why most Icebreathers are dark in colour, or so I’ve been told. I’m not sure if there are even any others aside me. If there are, I’ve never met them,_ Levi said idly, brushing off the teen’s apology. Despite his occasional shifting and snores, Eren had not been bad company at all. He finally turned his head to blink serpentine eyes at the Prince, finished with his final touches and able to properly turn his attention to his guest.

A strange feeling came over Eren when Levi finally looked at him. It wasn’t fear, or even awkwardness; some sort of mixture of warmth pooling in the centre of his body and heart speeding up into a gallop. The prince could feel his cheeks start to heat, informing him of how red his face must be. All he could think of was how pretty Levi’s scales looked reflecting the blue flames around him, and how piercing his gaze was, especially when it met Eren’s green intently. 

Eren realized he was staring when the dragon’s face turned a touch confused; when had he begun to read Levi’s emotions? Standing up and turning his face away to hide, Eren started to jerkily hop and step his way towards the entrance, since his body was for some reason failing him. “I um… ah… have things to do…” he spluttered his back to the dragon as he was making his escape but he paused a moment and managed to look back at Levi, still bright red. “Can I come back?” 

Levi’s chuckle rumbled in his chest. He could smell the boy’s embarrassment, the vague discomfort as if Eren had something to be guilty for. Again… **Endearing.**

 _Do as you like,_ he replied, a smile in his voice, I may or may not be here, but you’re welcome to stay. I have several texts you would benefit from reading and given your interest in the fae folk, you’re likely to enjoy. His tail made a shooing motion as Eren fidgeted by the entrance, _Go on then Princeling. Don’t let me keep you from your responsibilities._

Eren gave the dragon a shy smile and a wave then took off out of the cave and down the cliff’s path. He made his way through the forest with a spring in his step until the trees broke apart to reveal a rocky beach and the massive freshwater lake behind it. The prince looked out over the water for a moment, suddenly realizing that he had no idea how to catch lobster. 

“Christ,” he swore, dry scrubbing his face before he turned around and trudged back into the forest. If there was one person who knew anything of assistance, it would be Armin. 

~~

“You need to tie it tighter so that it can’t escape when it’s in the trap,” Armin said from his perch on a piece of driftwood in the shade. How Armin knew Eren was trying to take shortcuts when his eyes were glued to a book escaped the prince, so he just groaned. Armin had managed to tell Eren how to catch lobster from his time on the docks with his father who was trading information with sailors. 

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Eren asked, trying his best to tie line around the pieces of wood he fashioned into a sort of crude trap. The look of his handy work made him feel like this endeavour was fruitless. 

“Won’t know until you try,” Armin replied, idly turning another page. 

“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” Eren said with a sigh, standing up with his lobster pot trap and reaching for the bait Kuchel had given him when he came to kidnap Armin. He didn’t really understand why she gave him such a big piece of fish when lobsters were rarely bigger than his arm, but he didn’t question it, hauling the barrel of fish all the way to the lake. “Now what do I do?” he asked the other boy who was content to be of no help at all, except offer directions. 

“Now you go wade out into the water, let it drift to the bottom and then wait and see what you catch,” said Armin, finally looking up at Eren but only to shoo him away so that the blond could get back to his book. 

Eren grumbled to himself then looked out at the water before he tore off his shirt and his trousers so that he was only in his skivvies. It was a nice day for a swim, with relaxed waves and a hot sun. Maybe this whole lobster fishing expedition would be fun? Eren had to at least try. 

The prince waded out into the water with the trap raised above his head until the water was up to his nipples. “This should be deep enough…” he said, finally dropping the trap to float down to the lake bed. Eren figured he could stand a few feet away and watch for lobster since the lake water was so clear. It was incredible how many life forms lived in this lake, so many darting around and swimming between his feet that the boy was fascinated but ultimately distracted. He didn’t see it coming until it was too late and Eren was pulled under with a shriek. 

The scream echoed across the lake, startling Armin from his reading. The blond jumped up and ran to the shore as he yelled, “Eren! Eren are you okay?” He looked around frantically, scanning the water but could see no sign of Eren. 

Levi had heard the now familiar voice as he’d been leisurely sweeping the island while his team followed the complex hunt he’d given them as training for the morning and likely the afternoon as well depending on how quickly they managed to complete it. Curious and drawn by the young man’s voice, he’d swooped down into the tree cover surrounding the lake, careful to make his movements organic in the environment so the humans wouldn’t notice him watching until he wanted them too. 

He could see the prince’s blond companion and then Eren himself as his gaze followed the direction of his voice. The teen was wading into the lake with some sort of contraption Levi thought looked vaguely familiar but for the life of him, couldn’t remember what it was for. What was the boy doing? He didn’t seem to have any weapons on him. Hadn’t he been warned about the inhabitants of the various lakes and forests of the Skylands? His brow furrowed with concern and he stepped forward just as Armin called out for Eren and he realized belatedly that Eren had no doubt been pulled under.

Armin paced the shore, filled with anxiety as he continued to call for Eren. He was just about to rip off his clothes and go look for himself when suddenly there was a large amount of splashing and almost what seemed to be an enraged battle cry. “Eren!” Armin yelled, throwing off his shirt and shoes and beginning to wade in himself but then, Eren finally appeared above the waves with a gasp. Armin could almost cry with relief but then he noticed as Eren began to trudge his way to shore that he was half bent over with the weight of a large being on his back. 

“Wha-... what’s that?” Armin gasped as Eren walked passed him, glistening with water as pearls of translucent liquid beaded down his skin. 

“Lobster,” Eren huffed, throwing the massive body down on the beach. 

“Th-that can’t be true… it’s too…” Armin spluttered, wide eyed as he looked over the prince for injuries. Eren seemed fine, a little beat up but okay. Armin let go of another sigh of relief. 

“They grow ‘em big here,” Eren said simply, as he took a moment to stretch and catch his breath before he showed Armin the massive rock he managed to pick up off the lake floor. “It pulled me under and tried to drown me, so I beat its head in with a rock,” Eren gestured to the lobster. It was as long as Eren was tall and probably had a good fifty pounds on the prince. It was a wonder Eren managed to haul it all the way to the shore, but it was even more amazing that Eren had completely smashed the thing’s head in. “Do you think Levi will like it?” Eren asked, eyes still scanning the lobster. Was it big enough? Should he try and catch another? He didn’t know if he’d be so lucky twice.

“It’s for Levi?” Armin asked incredulous. Last he knew the two couldn’t stand each other. 

“Yes…” Eren said, looking away in embarrassment, face red once again. “I want to…,” he started, then paused for a moment biting his lip. Eren finally gained the courage to look Armin in the eyes, “I want him to accept me as his partner.” 

Levi stilled his approach, hesitating as his keen hearing picked up the words between the two teens. He stumbled mentally. **That** sounded an awful lot like courting to him. But he’d convinced himself it wasn’t… He lingered indecisively for several long moments, debating what to make of the implication. He’d already decided hadn’t he; if it was courting, that he would accept.

He exhaled a huff of chilled breath, refusing to let how off-balanced and flustered he felt show in his countenance or in his tone when he finally spoke, _And how do you plan to get it to my den when you can barely carry it, Princeling?_ he drawled amusedly, effectively covering his flattered embarrassment with the good natured teasing, finally lumbering out of the woods towards the two boys.

Eren’s eyes widened in surprise, then they looked to the sky, disappointed that he wasn’t able to shock the dragon with his achievement. But what Levi said made Eren frown, brows furrowing over green eyes as he thought. How was he going to get this thing all the way up to Levi’s den? 

With a sudden idea, Eren smiled and said, “Armin will-,” 

“Armin won’t,” the blond interjected, arms crossing and feet spread apart like he was willing to fight Eren if he continued that statement. 

Eren’s frown grew deeper. “I can… Well I…” Eren spoke, trying to think of an answer before he was made to look even stupider. What he didn’t expect was the lobster to start moving, coming back to the land of the living from the ocean of the dead. 

Like magic, and it probably was, the smashed in head of the lobster seemed to be knitting itself back together. Tendons and cartilage, or whatever this lobster was made of, seemed to grow between their eyes as its legs flexed and twitched. It was waking up. 

“Wha-,” Eren managed to say before a crack sounded and the crustacean’s eyes began to move, locking onto Eren and infuriated. Snapping its claws, it started towards the prince, haltingly like it didn’t have full control over its body. It had intent though; intent to kill the man that had smashed its head in with a rock. All Eren could do was turn and sprint in the opposite direction, screeching, “How do you kill this thing!” 

_Watch and learn,_ Levi’s voice rumbled as his tail lashed out in a midnight blurr, the speared tip slicing through the armoured shell of the turquoise Lobster’s head with a crunch and a gurgle while foam bubbled out of its mouth. The antennae on its head twitched as the nerves fired for several minutes after the dragon had separated the head from the body of the beast. He cocked his head and blinked at Eren, the expression decidedly smug and humoured. _I’m curious Eren, how did you think you would be hunting Skyland Azure Lake Lobster without any weapons exactly?_ He questioned as he watched Eren, chuckling when the boy was slow to realize he was no longer in danger and stop running.

The prince finally skidded to a stop to turn and face the dragon once again, trying to hide how impressed he was with Levi’s kill. “If they were regular sized lobster like they were supposed to be, I was going to trap them like we humans do,” Eren huffed, trying to save his wounded pride but failing with a grimace. “Does this… does this mean I failed?” Eren asked, starting to look extremely hurt and upset, gnawing on his bottom lip.

Both sets of eyelids blinked as Levi catalogued the change in the boy’s demeanour. It took him probably longer than it should to figure out what Eren meant, finally understanding why the thing the teen had been hauling out into the lake when he’d first arrived looked so familiar. He forgot sometimes how different some creatures were within the kingdom. He shook his head, _No… I’m impressed you managed to incapacitate it in the first place. You can’t be blamed for your ignorance, though you might want to ask a local before you decide to go on any more hunts. What counts is that we’ll be having Lobster for dinner.,_ he answered assuredly, ignoring the vague embarrassment his own words induced in him.

“I wasn’t expecting to hunt, I was fishing,” Eren replied, exasperation lacing his tone, but a smile was starting to lift back onto his face. “But lesson learned…,” he amended, bowing his head to Levi in defeat with an added, “You know how to cook?” 

“Looks like you have this covered,” Armin interrupted again with a sigh, unable to stand their awkward fumbling. “I’ve had enough excitement… I'm going to find Mikasa,” he added trudging to grab his discarded shirt and book, “Try not to get yourself killed for one evening.” 

Eren’s eyes widened as he watched Armin leave before he muttered to himself, “No way to treat your prince, everyone’s picking on me today!” His sentence ended with a whine before he himself also grabbed his clothes to pull on. 

One eye ridge lifted as Eren’s companion made his escape, though the dragon’s glacial gaze was still on the prince. Armin’s departure only made more prominent the conclusion that Eren was indeed engaging him in courtship, at least from Levi’s point of view. His eyes reflected Eren’s movements as he dressed, considering the sinewy muscle and tanned skin with curious interest. The young man was not at all unattractive. 

_Quit your whining brat or I **will** make you carry dinner back to my den all by yourself. And yes, I can cook… It’s not so difficult though I don’t require my meals to be cooked or warmed,_ he replied, giving Eren a playful prod in the rear with the flat of his spade-tipped tail.

Eren played docile for a moment as a wicked grin lifted on his face. In a whirl of movement, he pounced on Levi’s tail, hugging it like he would a pole. “I got you!” He said as he laughed and wrestled the dragon’s tail. 

Levi’s eyes narrowed mischievously before he almost lazily let the appendage fall limp, abruptly pinning the young man to the ground under its weight. The rough chortling sounded from him again as he peered down at Eren, _Seems to me you are the one that’s been **got** princeling._

A whooshing sound escaped Eren’s lungs as the air was knocked out of him. “Oh… yeah…?” Eren huffed out when he could finally breathe, feeling crushed by the weight of Levi’s tail. “What if I do… this!” he said, then began attacking the underside of Levi’s tail with wiggling fingers, trying to tickle the dragon into submission. 

Vibrant colour washed through the smooth scale, violet and cerulean rippling under Eren’s touch accompanied by a rush of liquid warmth that was unexpected and not wholly unpleasant, but disconcerting. He made a sound, the scale on the underside of his tail shifting and bristling up in instinctive preparation for mating, though he had no intention of doing so. It was a reaction to the stimulus so close to where his secondary reproductive organs were located and he had very little control over it, especially when he was already of the mind that the boy was courting him. 

He made a sort of guttural thrumming sound between a growl and a purr before he could cut it off abruptly, embarrassed as he attempted to quell the sudden onslaught of arousal before it could make itself known in a more prominent and likely disturbing fashion. Eren no doubt was uneducated when it came to the anatomy of dragons which largely resembled that of other domestic reptile breeds in the animal kingdom and would more than probably be intimidated and quite possibly disgusted should his arousal escalate beyond the mating colouration and the vaguely spiced scent that had risen. He lifted his tail away from the questing fingers, shifting his weight, mumbling embarrassedly, _Don’t do that brat. It’s… **sensitive.**_

“Oh! I’m sorry! Did I hurt you?” Eren said, looking horrified as he removed his hands from the dragon’s tail, though he remained flat on his back in the sand beneath the appendage. “I didn’t mean to! I won’t touch your tail again I promise!” said Eren as he bowed his head in apology. 

Levi’s head swayed back and forth, _No, it doesn’t **hurt** , but it’s a sensitive area for most dragons. Most often, the underside is touched to instigate mating…_ he explained awkwardly, tail hovering over Eren as the colour faded, but didn’t entirely dissipate from his scales. _You don’t need to apologize, you couldn’t have known such a thing… Besides, I doubt you could hurt me in this form pipsqueak,_ he teased, trying to ease the embarrassed tension that had settled between them, poking Eren again with the spadelike tip of his tail almost flirtatious in the playful gesture. It wasn’t as if he would be opposed to allowing the boy to touch the sensitive place, just… After the courtship had been successful. Well and when Eren understood exactly what it meant.

“Mating…” Eren repeated the word aloud as he frowned. He’d only ever heard that word in regards to animals, then his mind made the connection. Inhaling his own spit, he choked, worming he way out from underneath the tail then standing up. His burning red face gave away his embarrassment. What couldn’t be seen was the tingle of arousal that swept through his body. It was entirely unexpected and it really threw him off. “So… um… are we… Are we going back to your den then?” he asked, having trouble forcing the words out. 

The dragon’s chuckle sounded as he scented the embarrassment and something sweeter on Eren, though he didn’t analyze the vague aroma too much further at least for the moment. There was something familiar and attractive about it, but he didn’t comment or dwell on it. _Yes I suppose that would be the best course since I now have dinner to cook… Well come on then Princeling, unless you want to walk,_ he said, shifting to allow Eren to mount him for flight.

Eren squirmed where he stood, very reluctant to climb up onto Levi. He was mortified because for some reason, he was sort of hard. He cursed down at himself, raging against his adolescent hormones. It didn’t help. 

Looking up at the hard exterior of Levi’s back, green eyes tracing all the ridges and smooth but hard scales, Eren felt his cock twitch from the confines of his trousers. Eren _knew_ how good it would feel to straddle the dragon and Levi would soon know too. There would be a lot of tantalizing rubbing the prince realized, something he never thought before on his flights with Levi. There was no doubt in his mind that he would get fully hard, so he only had one option. 

“I think I’ll walk…” Eren murmured, head turned away in shame as his hands were strategically clasped in front of himself to hide a particular uncooperative appendage. 

The dragon looked back at the boy as he picked up the body of the monstrous crustacean with one clawed foreleg, and raised an eyeridge in response to Eren’s declaration. It didn’t seem like he had said anything to offend the prince, though it was rather obvious that Eren was embarrassed. Curious… _Suit yourself. Do try to be quick or I’ll eat without you,_ he said after a long pause just watching the teen as Eren awkwardly fidgeted, before he turned to take off with the gifted food.

When Levi was gone, Eren groaned and dry scrubbed his face. It was a long way back up the cliff. 

By the time he made it all the way up, his arousal was gone and so was his erection. As he was drawing closer, the decadent smell of cooking wafted through the air. It made Eren’s stomach gurgle with excitement so the prince picked up his pace to reach Levi’s den. He couldn’t wait to eat the lobster that almost killed him. 

_You made good time,_ Levi greeted as Eren came clambering into his den. He ran a lacquered charcoal claw down the underbelly of the steaming lobster, the shell splitting down the middle and blooming open to reveal the tender meat within. The scent of it was spiced and sweetened with honeybutter that he’d thought Eren would enjoy. The fire in which he’d cooked the seafood was still crackling some feet from the entrance to his den, the chair already situated before it with a plate and utensils upon it in wait for the young man. _Are you hungry?_ he asked, not looking up from where he was carefully slicing a portion of the meal for Eren, idly gesturing with his tail for the young man to bring over the plate he’d set out for him.

“Starved,” Eren replied, jumping to grab his plate and hold it out for Levi to fill. It was only then that he realized he had once again messed up. “Are you sure… This was supposed to be a gift to you…” Eren said, looking down at his plate with longing, “It doesn’t feel right to eat your gift…” 

_Why not? You earned it,_ Levi replied offhandedly, carefully skewering the human’s portion with his foreclaw and setting it on Eren’s plate, _Go on then. It’s not getting any warmer._

“If you insist,” Eren answered, an excited smile returning to his face. He could feel himself salivate looking down at the piece of meat before him, so he scrambled to the chair to set his plate down and dig in. “Is deeiciouf’,” Eren said with his mouth full, puffed cheeks loaded with food as he chewed. Swallowing hard, the prince then groaned with happiness. He wasn’t usually one to like seafood but the way Levi cooked the meat and smothered it in butter was delectable. But it wasn’t enough to distract him from the task at hand.

“What kind of music do you like?” Eren asked, trying to appear like he was bringing it up for the sake of conversation, faking indifference. The prince hadn’t sang much, so he was hoping to gain some information through an innocent chat. 

_Music?_ Levi echoed, looking up from his own meal which he was meticulously picking apart and devouring in vaguely cubed chunks.It was an unexpected question, and also a little suspicious given what he knew of courtship, but the boy seemed as though it was **just** a question. The serpentine mercury eyes narrowed, but he answered, _Anything with a pretty melody. Nothing Dwarven; they’re completely tone deaf. Sounds like moose mating calls._ His snout wrinkled and he shook his head a bit as if to rid himself of an awful memory.

Looking up from his food, Eren said, “Darn… All I know is dwarven folk songs.” The prince sighed dramatically, lips twitching like he was about to grin. They both knew he had never even met a dwarf before let alone learned their music. He continued to eat his portion until his plate was clean and he resisted the urge to lick up all the leftover butter. 

_Cute brat,_ the dragon replied humouredly, blinking one set of eyelids and then the other slowly at Eren. He lazily curved his tail around the boy’s chair and the cooking fire, finishing off the rest of his meal, a low vibrating purr of approval steadily rumbling through his chest. _What do you have planned for tomorrow?_ he queried, beginning to groom leisurely now that he’d finished eating, forked tongue flicking over fang and claw before he moved on to preening his leathery wings.

“Hmmm… What am I doing tomorrow,” Eren wondered aloud. He was a little stuck on the singing phase and Levi had been no help. At least he knew not to look up any dwarven songs he guessed. “Nothing I can think of…” he said, starting to frown when he realized how hopelessly lost he was. 

Eren gave his head a little shake. No, he was working on his relationship with Levi, the battle plans and strategizing with the people with Levi as his partner would come later. They would be the best commanders and they would win together, Eren was certain. 

The dragon hummed his acknowledgement, mulling over the answer as though he hadn’t already decided on extending an invitation to the boy. _Would you like to begin your aerial battle training?_ he offered, pausing in his grooming to look at the youth, curious to see Eren’s reaction.

Eren immediately stood up and slammed his hands on the wooden table before him. “Would I!” Eren yelled, eyes bright with determination and excitement as he leaned towards Levi. He was so bursting with exuberance, the prince had to stop himself from asking to begin right then and there. Even if he didn’t seem to get sick like Mikasa and Armin, flying on a full stomach seemed like a bad idea. 

Levi chuckled, endeared and amused by the teen’s enthusiasm. _Settle down brat and finish your dinner. We’ll start at dawn. And just a warning, I’m not going to go easy on you just because I like you,_ he said, staring for a long moment at Eren before he turned back to grooming his wings, _In the meantime, I set out some books for you to look through before then._

Eren’s eyes widened impossibly further before he started to stutter. “Y-y-y-you…” he started, but managed to shut himself up before he sat back down. He had already finished his dinner, so he sat awkwardly with a bright red face for a moment, thinking hard, before he reached forward to grab one of the books and open it. Maybe reading would distract him from his embarrassment. How did Levi know exactly how to tease him so easily? Eren usually had pretty good control over his emotions he thought, although all who were close to him disagreed vehemently. 

Liquid mercury watched the blushing boy for long moments as Eren immersed himself in one of the texts Levi had picked out for him and the dragon smiled inwardly. The princeling certainly was cute. He finished grooming, glancing back at Eren every so often, pleased to see the genuine interest budding on his face as he read about the old ways, Dragons and riders, a kingdom rich in magic and prosperous in peace. He made himself comfortable, laying his heavy head on the nest of his forelegs, body curled around the seated boy and the fire. His tail shifted idly and he closed his eyes as he began humming that quiet, dulcet lullaby from before, denoting his contentment with the easy quiet that had settled between them.

The sound floated softly to Eren’s ears and the prince found himself entranced and unable to continue to read. Unmoving except to close his eyes, Eren felt the notes surround him and echo through his mind, feeling the vibrations coming off of Levi’s body. Before he even knew what he was doing, Eren began to hum along with Levi, a sweet alto to accompany Levi’s tenor, his head slightly swaying as he got lost in the lullaby. 

Levi cracked an eye when the first strains of Eren’s voice joined his own, not having expected the accompaniment, but not at all unwelcoming of it. After all, he was fairly certain they were courting now; it was only natural. He didn’t comment and simply reclosed his eye, continuing to hum without pause or hesitation, curling in tighter around the young man’s space.


	6. Verse VI: Passage

Weeks passed. Eren wasn’t a terrible student and he took to the air as if he’d been made for it, unafraid and exhilarated when he was in the sky with Levi. True to his word, the dragon did not go easy; they argued often, challenged one another, learned to work as one, partners, flawless and the exchange of gifts continued. Though they fought and became frustrated with one another until one or both of them stormed off, they both found their way back to Levi’s den by the time the sun was setting. During their time apart, Eren would mingle with his comrades and Levi would train with his team or visit with his mother whom he was now certain had been meddling and was no doubt responsible for the Prince’s courtship. 

The date of the battle was drawing nearer. Grisha had not been idle in the weeks that Eren had been safe in the Skylands, but they had not been idle either. And Levi had begun fashioning armor for the Prince; he was sure the final courting rituals were not far off and he fully intended to gift Eren with the lacquered dragonscale as a final show of his acceptance, though he was still a tad uncertain about Eren’s understanding of the whole process. He supposed it didn’t matter; the boy would come to understand and Levi could be patient.

So it was that he found himself standing over Eren, pinning the young man beneath the weight of his tail. _You’re still too rash. Know when to defend instead of attack! Where is your head today? Pay attention!_ he chastised irritably, breath chilly and raising goosebumps on the human’s skin as he narrowed his slitted gaze at him.

“Maybe if you were a better tutor I would know!” Eren bit back through gritted teeth, green eyes alight with anger, and something else. His skin was tingling wherever the dragon touched the prince, and not just due to the nature of his chilly magic. It was _burning_ him and all he could do was hiss in frustration. “Let me up,” Eren ordered, ready to beat the dragon this time, no matter the odd way he felt. 

The dragon growled and let more of his weight settle on the struggling young man, staunchly refusing to obey the boy’s petulant demand. _No… You need to cool your head,_ he argued grumpily, letting out an irritated snort and restlessly shifting his wings.

“Let. Me. Up...” Eren hissed as his head lifted off the ground to get closer to Levi’s snout, challenging the dragon, “Now. Or else.” 

_Or else what brat?_ Levi drawled, blinking down at Eren lazily, one set of eyelids then the other in the way that had begun to infuriate the young man over the past few weeks. He didn’t move, didn’t even twitch, unimpressed by the prince’s bravado and unafraid of his threat.

Eren’s face evened out, a half smirk lifting on his lips as he said, “Or else, this.” Eren’s hands began to slide smoothly up and down the underside of Levi’s tail, slowly and with pressure to make the dragon really feel the sensation over the sensitive flesh. “You keep telling me to guard my weak spots and look for them in others…” Eren breathed, continuing his groping as he remained unblinking, waiting for Levi to react. His body was taut with anticipation, the burning feeling even more intense as he touched Levi. 

A physical shudder ran through the dragon as Eren’s fingers and palms kneaded at the tender scale on the underside of his tail. And he growled in warning, ripples of colour flickering over the dark, smooth scale with instinctive interest. It was a dirty move; if it were anyone else, his reaction would most likely have been violent, but because it was Eren and the Prince was recognized as his potential mate, Levi’s body reacted favourably with no concept of appropriate timing. 

He hissed and dragged his tail away from the touch almost reluctantly, the variant colouration of his scale spreading to the spiny tendrils that framed his head and ran the length of his spine, and did not fade immediately, pulsing and stubborn with aroused interest. _Enough!_ he snapped, coiling his tail around himself and huffing indignantly.

Eren was up chasing the dragon as soon as he could move, the black pupils of his eyes dilated as he traced the beautiful flush of colour on Levi’s scales, cheeks red but not from embarrassment. “Why? It feels good right?” Eren asked, kneeling down beside the curled dragon then rubbing the hard exterior of Levi’s tail instead of sensitive underbelly, “Let me feel.” 

_Cheeky brat!_ Levi accused, keeping the underside of his tail and the well hidden slit between the scale there pressed tightly against himself so that Eren could only just barely touch the softer scale where it met the harder, smooth scale of his hide. _Just **what** kind of Dragon do you think I am?_ he queried in mock offense, nudging the young man with his nose in a half hearted attempt to deter him. But there was amusement and heat in the swirling mercury of his eyes, giving away that he was quickly forgetting his frustration from before to instead play this new game that was somewhere between flirtation and curiosity. 

“I don’t know,” Eren said, determination in his eyes as he scanned the dragon’s form, wondering how to get Levi to uncurl, “But I want to find out. Why won’t you let me?”

The Dragon’s dark head tilted, eyes narrowing in suspicion, _**Why** do you want to?_ He shifted minutely, coiling his tail tighter as he watched Eren search for weaknesses in his defenses.

Eren raised his gaze to stare straight into Levi’s silvery eyes and tilted his head in the opposite direction as they sized each other up. “I want to see if I can make you feel the way you make me feel… Or if I’m the queer one,” Eren answered honestly, hands now kneading at the soft parts of Levi’s tail that he could reach, imploring the dragon to unwrap. 

_Mmn… And how is it that I make you feel Princeling?_ Levi hummed, the tone dulcet and vibrating in his chest, relaxing the clever coil of his tail ever so slightly so that Eren could wedge his hand between the press of it against his body, affording him a few more inches of the more vulnerable scale to explore.

“You light fire under my skin, no matter your ice magic,” Eren said, one hand lifting to clutch at his navel while the other wiggled in further to feel more soft scales. “What does my touch feel like to you? Nothing?” the prince questioned, watching the dragon’s face for any touch of emotion. If Levi really didn’t like it, he’d stop. But he couldn’t fault himself for trying. He’d been dreaming and daydreaming about it for weeks which was probably why he wasn’t able to pay... attention to Levi’s teaching as much as he could’ve without distraction. 

_So you were courting me all along,_ the elder male observed mostly to himself before he met Eren’s eyes, loosening the tension in his tail further and blinking both sets of lids as the mercury in his eyes swam thickly with arousal.

Eren’s eyes focused and he immediately tore his hand away like he was burned. “I’m not courting you!” he yelled in anger, before he saw the look of shock and hurt in Levi’s expression and continued his explanation, “I would never buy your hand in marriage… I would never force you into an alliance out of convenience and have you stuck with me for all of eternity…” He turned his head away, face scrunching up in pain. “I just… fancy you… And I hoped… Maybe… you’d be fond of me as well… Courting is business… Business without feeling or emotion… I don’t want that…” 

The Dragon’s brow lowered in confusion. _Business?_ he echoed, shaking his head with a snort of distaste. _Courting is not done that way between most fae and certainly not for Dragons. You… The gifts; stones and food and the song… How did you know to do that if you weren’t doing it as courtship? Courting a mate is not a task to take on out of convenience or pursuit of wealth,_ he explained, his tail curling tighter again in his uncertainty. Eren had said he fancied him, but with the confusion over what it meant to court, he didn’t want to assume it had the same meaning and wanted to be sure they understood one another before they ventured any further. 

Eren’s face cringed in embarrassment. “I wanted you to like me,” Eren said, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck while the other began to anxiously knead the sand beneath him, “Your mom said if I did those things, you would… My feelings weren’t as strong then, a little flutter of a flame instead of the burning inferno they are now… I realize now I don’t want you to like me just as a friend or a partner in battle… I want…” Eren’s voice trailed off, his disappointment so engulfing it radiated off of him. “I’m sorry… I… I should’ve just kept it to myself,” Eren dismissed with a bow of his head, just about to lift himself from the sand and lick the wounds from Levi’s perceived rejection alone someplace quiet. 

_She told you those gestures were purely for friendship…_ Levi affirmed wryly. Of course she had; he’d known his mother had been meddling, but he hadn’t realized how she had misled the boy. A chuckle rumbled in his chest and he uncurled his tail only to barr the clearly flighty young man from escaping, _She lied to you… Those things… it’s what Dragons do to show interest in a potential mate._ His heavy tail settled in around Eren, the thrumming fluctuations in colour frequent and more vibrant, unobscured and on display before the teen.

“Oh…” Eren answered, still sullen, not quite understanding the implication. He noticed Levi’s tail curl around him and that was when the deeper meaning struck and he looked up with shocked eyes. “O-Oh! I-... um,” Eren gasped, watching as Levi curled closer and closer around him. His hope was suddenly and fiercely reignited, burning blood screaming through his veins to act, so he did. Reaching out with his hands to once again feel the sensitive spot of Levi’s tail, he said smoothly, “Was my courting successful, even though you knew I didn’t understand? Will you accept me as a potential mate?” Eren asked, confidence returning to his posture, as well as determination in his eyes. Levi’s snout was now close enough to Eren’s face as they stared into each other’s eyes that the prince was able to inch closer and rub his cheek against Levi’s, moving forward as his hands rubbed up the sensitive tail for Eren to reach Levi’s ear. “I’d like to be your mate Levi,” Eren said gently, feeling his heart ready to beat out of his chest. 

The soft scale rippled as Levi’s tail undulated lazily beneath Eren’s touch, the opening to his cloaca vaguely swollen and beginning to leak a slick lubrication as his secondary genitalia began to prod it’s way out of the folds. He made a low sort of purring trill in his throat as his tongue flickered out to taste the young man’s rising arousal mingling with the spicy peppermint of his own. _I’ve already accepted haven’t I? Though you’ve yet to perform the drop, I assume it’s in your plans… Mm, did you really not realize I fancy you too brat?_ he said, mental voice gravelly with pleasure and maybe just a little amusement. 

“I was hopeful but you’re very hard to read. In fact, there were several moments I was pretty sure you were going to eat me,” Eren said absentmindedly, rubbing, kneading, and petting in different intervals to see what made Levi purr the loudest. His hands were becoming vaguely wet and that’s when Eren noticed a gap between Levi’s scales that was becoming wider and wider. It looked quite delicate, so Eren softly ran his fingers over the seam and was startled by the rather loud mewl that left the Dragon. The sound was arousing enough to send a shudder through his entire body and make his own manhood twitch within his trousers. Eren couldn’t help himself, one hand dropping to rub himself through his pants, but he didn’t stop massaging Levi’s tail, breaths coming in harsh pants as the young prince was overcome with arousal. 

The dragon pressed his nose to Eren’s shoulder and chest, his chilly breath soothing to the boy’s no doubt overheated skin. He rumbled his encouragement as his serpentine sex began to peek out from the protective pouch that housed it, coaxed by Eren’s eagerly explorative fingertips. His scales glimmered in thick, vibrant waves of colour, velvety violet, midnight and porcelain blue in an alluring and hypnotic display. _I’ve no intention to **eat** you princeling, even if you are to my taste. And I’m not so hard to read if you know what you’re looking for. Do you know why they become like that?_ he asked in a roughened and breathy tone, shifting his tail to make clear what it was he was referring to.

“N-No,” Eren said, tearing his dilated eyes away from the slit to gaze slightly cross-eyed at Levi before looking down again as his fingers dipped inside and were coated in liquid. “It’s beautiful,” the prince breathed. 

Levi shuddered and made another throaty purring sound as Eren's fingers tentatively dipped into the slick pocket and brushed against the slippery shaft of his arousal for the briefest of moments. He hissed quietly, forked tongue ticklish over the young man's toned belly as he shifted restlessly, stretching his stiff wings out and curving them in around the two of them protectively. _It's a sign of interest and desire to mate… I would not show off my colours to just anyone who happened along, you know,_ he answered, exhaling another brisk breath between them, flattered by Eren's compliment and buzzing with steadily growing arousal.

“I don’t have any colours to show you,” Eren answered, pulling his hand from Levi’s slit to inspect the glistening liquid it was covered in. There was a lot of it, and it smelled sweet, almost like peppermint. Before Eren could even think about it, he stuck two fingers into his mouth to taste the substance. “Mmm,” the prince hummed around his fingers as his eyes fluttered closed. It tasted… Eren couldn’t describe it, and it was almost like an aphrodisiac. He couldn’t resist any longer, so his hand moved to unbutton his trousers and pull them down to pump his achingly hard cock while he licked the substance off his hand. “You taste… good,” was all he could mumble, eyes opening to inspect the slit again. What would Levi do if he licked that? Eren guessed he would find out as he dived forward to run his tongue all the way across the length of Levi’s opening. 

Levi stilled, even his chilled breath held in his thrumming chest as he watched the boy touching himself and he shuddered when Eren dove in to trail his tongue along the vulnerable foot length of leaking slit. He swore in a language not of human dialect and let out a harsh breath of cold air, his tail shifting as more of the vaguely ridged smoothness of his inhuman secondary length pressed its way out, the tip broad, blunted and glistening as it finally broke out of the safety of the warm, wet pocket. The area was sensitive enough that even with the difference in size between them, Levi could feel the enthusiastic caress of the boy’s tongue along his soft scaled opening. He pressed his nose to Eren’s back firmly, encouraging him to explore further while his serpentine tongue flickered between his teeth to coil around the young man’s body, eager to reciprocate the blissful gesture from the little mortal. It should be strange to be in this form while getting **intimate** with a human, but he could hardly be bothered when Eren was completely undeterred by the odd differences between their species, his own arousal confirmation enough that he was unconcerned about it. Eren wanted to be with him regardless. Levi purred thick and guttural, pleased, proud, and possessive in response to the understanding. It did not feel strange at all…

Eren’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped at the size of the appendage, pretty much matching his own torso in girth and in length, but it didn’t deter him. All he could think of was that Levi was attracted to him, Levi wanted Eren like Eren wanted the dragon. All of Eren’s daydreaming was coming true and it created an unending flow of happiness and longing throughout his body.

It wasn’t until the nudge of Levi’s snout to Eren’s back that Eren fell out of his elated musings. He felt a sort of chilled slick restriction over his body and realized that Levi’s tongue had wrapped itself around his entire torso. It felt like he was wrapped with thick corded, but freezing wet rope nudging his shirt up and his trousers off as it curled around him, seeking out the smooth expanse of tan skin hidden beneath. 

“Levi,” Eren moaned, his head falling back on his shoulders at the sensation. “You don’t…” he began but was cut off by a squeeze of Levi’s tongue, making Eren keen once again. His skin was hot and sensitive and every movement of Levi’s tongue made another intense wave of arousal course through his veins. Levi wasn’t even touching anything that was supposed to be arousing, much to Eren’s chagrin. He didn’t want to be the only one to receive pleasure, so he tried once again to inspect Levi’s proud arousal before him, even if it was hard to think with Levi’s tongue slowly making its way downward. 

A sudden idea popped into Eren’s head, and before the prince overthought it, he acted. Moving against the restraint of Levi’s tongue, he managed to crawl up onto Levi’s tail, and straddled the giant cock. He was instantly covered with liquid but Eren didn’t mind, looking back to Levi to see if this was okay. Eren didn’t have any experience with any human other than himself, so he especially didn’t know what he was doing with a Dragon. He hoped it wasn’t terribly wrong. 

Levi nudged Eren with his nose again, the vibrations from his guttural purring transferring to the boy’s skin as the dragon’s tongue slithered further along his body, curiously caressing along the seam where thigh met groin and in between, easily maneuvering between the press of Eren against his member. _S’good Princeling,_ he rumbled as his shaft throbbed against the young man’s body, greedy for the grip and friction it provided, his tongue and snout keeping the boy firmly in place so that he didn’t slip off the slick organ. _You don’t mind the difference?_ he questioned idly, wanting to know just what Eren thought, though he could tell that the boy was hardly put off.

“It’s different… But no… It’s you… I want you,” Eren whimpered between gasps and moans, rolling his body against Levi’s cock. The more he slipped against it, the more it throbbed and flinched back against Eren, so it must feel good for Levi too. The prince’s entire body was now coated in the sweet smelling slick, thick drops from the head of Levi’s shaft rolling over Eren’s and along the young man’s body. But he didn’t care, too focused on his movement, and the intimate places Levi’s tongue was exploring. Moaning loudly, his head fell back to look at Levi again. “Do you mind?” he asked, sudden anxiety breaking through his arousal. It wasn’t enough to make him stop though, his body on a mission to seek and give pleasure. 

Levi’s tongue was rough, yet somehow ticklishly silky along the underside of Eren’s manhood, pressing it up against the young man’s belly as he pressed Eren insistently against his own arousal. _Mm, that is a good answer Princeling. And no, I don’t mind in the least. It is natural to be closer to one’s chosen mate,_ he answered, though his voice was strained, quieter, a desperate quality to the husky tone. He could hardly help it though. Between the scent and taste of the boy’s desire mingling with his own and the full-bodied groping of his sensitive and throbbing cock.

“Doesn’t… feel wrong,” Eren added, starting to pant as his back arched and his length twitched against the restraint of Levi’s tongue. It put an intense pressure on his cock, but not to the point of discomfort. It was even more sensitive now that Levi was restricting the blood flow. Eren tried to mimic what the dragon was doing to him, curling his arms and legs tighter around the shaft and rubbed his body faster up and down the length. He was clumsy in his frantic movement but eager, content with Levi pushing him harder against the member and the tingling breath that was chilling his entire back. 

The Dragon growled gutturally, his wings tensing and quivering restlessly as his scales vaguely bristled up and pulsed with colour in anticipation of his climax. The tightening of the boy’s limbs and the slick squirming against his overeager and wholly receptive member accompanied by the mingling taste of their arousal was swiftly leading him to the precipice. _Eren…_ he warned, voice low and strained as his ridged length twitched and his tongue constricted and relaxed repeatedly while he breathed heavily over Eren’s back, _You… Might want to hold your breath…_

Eren grunted at Levi, hearing what he said but not quite understanding, too lost in his own desire. Everything felt so good, white hot and burning, much more intense then his own late night fumblings with his hand in the dark. He knew he was being warned, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Eren wanted all that Levi could give him and more, and that thought alone sent the prince to the brink. “Levi! O-Oh god,” he managed to gasp out before he came, his cock twitching as spurts of white liquid shot out and coated his stomach, Levi’s tongue, and the base of Levi’s erection. His body tensed and shivered through his orgasm and Eren managed to hug Levi’s cock even tighter, burrowing his body as close to the dragon’s length as possible. He couldn’t help himself, chasing his pleasure as he continued to cum for what seemed like ages. 

The snarl that sounded from Levi was like thunder when he met his peak moments after Eren had stiffened, jerking and firming his grip around the Dragon’s cock. The echo of the boy’s climax sent him careening into his own, tail stiffening and shaking with tension, claws kneading the ground as he pressed his cold teeth and nose to Eren’s back. Pinning the Prince where he was, pearly threads of cum arced overhead, tapering into thick rivulets that soaked Eren anew, making a slippery mess of the both of them. Not that Levi could be bothered by it, lost as he was in the bliss he’d found in the boy that unknowingly held his heart in more ways than he’d ever imagined when he’d saved the life of the child all those years ago. He shuddered and loosened the grip of his coiled tongue slowly in order to clean his future mate’s face so that Eren wouldn’t drown in his release, purring his contentment roughly in his throat.

Boneless, Eren was able to let go of Levi’s flagging cock, falling back against the dragon’s tail then slowly slipped to the ground. If he was in a state other than post orgasmic bliss, he might’ve been grossed out by being soaked from top to bottom in cum and dragon slick, but right then, all he could do was take long deep breaths as he came down from his high. 

After a few drawn moments, the prince was able to come back to reality, green eyes opening to see that Levi was attempting to clean him. He could tell it was only affectionate, but the gentle movements of Levi’s tongue incited another wave of arousal that he didn’t think would be possible so soon. “How long until we can do that again?” Eren asked breathily before he could think about the implications of his question. He couldn’t help it, now that he knew what being intimate with Levi was like, he wanted to do it _all_ the time. 

_Greedy brat,_ Levi murmured huskily, a quiet chuckle filtering out from between his teeth as he bathed the sprawled young man with his tongue, purposely teasing his more sensitive areas with the forked tip. _It would be best if we perhaps return home before we explore any further. Some of the nastier wildlife comes out when night falls. I’d rather not be interrupted,_ he answered proper after a moment, followed by a soft hiss as his member slid back inside the safety of his cloaca, though the colourations remained rippling lazily through his scales, denoting his continued desire.

“Stop,” Eren whined, kicking and squirming to get away from Levi’s tongue, “I’m going to get hard again!” 

_I thought you wanted another go?_ Levi blinked both sets of lids lazily as he replied in a clearly amused tone, not backing off in the slightest, wrapping his tongue around Eren’s waist and drawing him back towards the dragon. He snorted a frosty breath over the young man’s damp and flushed skin and grinned toothily when Eren shivered. Held captive and bound by the forked and serpentine muscle of Levi’s tongue, Eren was toted along as the dark dragon moved, shifting around and spreading his wings as he prepared to take off from the pebbled and sandy beach that surrounded the lake where they had been training. He was keen to return to the privacy of his den.

“You’re such a brute! I wanted to put my clothes back on!” Eren yelled as he managed to kick Levi right in the chin as hard as he could while they flew through the air. He knew it wouldn’t hurt the dragon, since Levi was virtually indestructible, but he wanted his discontent to be known. Eren soon stopped struggling though, accepting his fate of being carried back to the dragon’s lair. “You better make it up to me! Thoroughly!” Eren huffed, excited despite his affront, to reach the dragon’s den. If that’s what Levi would do out in the open, what would he do squirrelled away in his own territory? The thought sent another thrill of arousal through Eren’s veins. 

The only response the dragon gave was that same low, vibrating chuckle, amused and teasing as it tickled at the boy’s mind. And Levi only firmed his grip around the younger male and beat his wings faster.

***

It was some hours later while they were curled together in Levi’s nest, a handful of bruises and welted scratches littering the boy’s skin, the only evidence left of what they’d been up to for a majority of the evening. It was comfortable with Levi curled around the boy protectively, natural and familiar. The Dragon was dozing, lulled by the quiet inhale and exhale of Eren’s breath and the steady beat of their shared heart.

The peace was abruptly shattered by the clattering of claws on stone followed by a yelp before Hange came tumbling into his den, pursued closely by Petra’s copper head. The androgynous drudaic sprite got to her feet gingerly and patted herself off, adjusting her glasses and blinking owlishly at Levi and the barely modest Prince. _Hange,_ Levi greeted warningly as the druid just stood staring for a long moment, _There better be a damned good reason for you two crashing in here so bloody early in the morning._

Eren blinked his eyes open, vision clouded with sleep, trying to decipher what had woken him up. “It’s too early,” he grumbled as he tried to bury his way deeper into Levi’s side, snuggling under the bulk of the dragon’s forearm, “Come back later.” If the prince had been more awake, he might’ve been embarrassed about his nudity, but all Eren could think of was getting some more sleep and then maybe coaxing Levi into some more fun when they woke up. 

Hange had the decency to at least hide her grin behind her hand when she failed to hold it back and Levi raised a scaly eyeridge at her. _Hange,_ he repeated insistently as he curved his wing in around Eren, shielding him as the boy attempted to remain sleeping.

Petra nudged her rider and mate with her nose, a mix of worry and elation for Levi in her amber eyes as she prompted Hange to properly relay the news they’d come baring. The sprite adjusted her glasses again and set her jaw, lips pursed in a thin line for a drawn moment before she finally spoke up, “Grisha’s on the move. The villages in the borderlands have been revolting and he’s been systematically burning them and forcibly cowing the people into submission. He’s destroyed the reserves we’ve managed to bring them and there was an attack on the drudaic village nearest there in the Forest of Giant Trees. You know the one....” She crossed her leatherbound arms over the flat expanse of her chest as her gaze narrowed and darkened while she continued in a quieter, serious tone, “He’s taken their children Levi. We can wait no longer to launch our own assault. He’ll no doubt find his way here eventually. The time must be now.” Levi’s growl rolled in his chest in response. 

Suddenly wide awake at Hange’s words, Eren was up and out from under Levi in an instant, green eyes burning with rage. “That bastard! Where are my fucking pants,” he roared, trying to escape Levi’s hold as he darted around wildly, looking for his misplaced trousers, too infuriated to care about his exposed nudity. “What are our numbers? Did the clans to the North also raise their arms? Are the smiths done with the weapons? Has Armin received word from our possible allies from the western human realms across the sea?” his words were a swift tumble out of his mouth, his princely authority rising in the tone without realizing as he managed to find his breeches under Levi’s tail. He yanked it out and started hopping around, trying to pull one leg on at a time but stumbling clumsily with every try. 

Levi snorted, watching the young man struggle to dress himself. How Eren could have been snoring one moment and up with vengeance in his voice and determination in his eyes the next was something of a mystery, but one that the dragon found a completely appropriate and endearing quality for his mate to have. He shifted around idly as Hange nodded and affirmatively answered the Prince’s inquiries without preamble.

He knew the Hange was right and it was clear what Eren intended to do. The time for action had finally come. He was ready, but he needed a suitable blade and armor fit for a Rider King, the rightful King and hope of all the realm. _Eren,_ he interrupted gruffly as he dug about behind the far side of his nest where he had been keeping the gift he’d been fashioning for the young man. _I had intended to give these to you later, but now seems more appropriate,_ he finished as he laid out the items. A magnificent Dragonblade, crystal and glowing with a glacial azure light like snowflakes upon the blade that were ever falling and an onyx pommel, jeweled jade and jasper inlaid intricately along it’s surface, and the polished midnight scale armor, tightly woven to be strong but give a wide range of movement to the wearer, designed and sized specifically for the the boy that would be Levi’s rider.

Finally tugging his pants on, Eren whirled around to look at Levi, already starting to frown at the interruption but knew better then to protest when the dragon sounded so serious. When his eyes finally feasted on the sight of the blade and armour, he swallowed his words and choked on the breath in his lungs. For a moment all he could do was stand there in awe of such legendary weapons, eyes tracing every detail, absorbing every groove. But it was then that Eren took a step back, looking up tensely as Levi observed him. 

“I… I haven’t earned such treasures… Such honour,” he tried to say with determination, but his voice was wavering with his self doubt. “Maybe… Maybe after I defeat Grisha… I haven’t… I don’t deserve it…” Eren protested, hands lifting to run through his wild and untamed locks, still mussed from their exploration. 

Levi lifted his chin and looked down at the prince. _That is not for you to decide Princeling. It’s my gift to give and they were made for you. Would you not wear my colours? Do you not accept my protection?_ he answered, his voice virtually unreadable though there was a vulnerability hidden in the murky mercury of his ovalled eyes as he watched Eren expectantly, anticipation and perhaps a little anxiety making his chest tighten and the echo of his heart beat quicker, heavier as he awaited the boy’s answer. And both Hange and Petra were silent, holding their breaths as they too waited to see what the prince would do, wide eyed with awe at the unexpected scene that had unfolded before them.

Eren’s eyes widened in shock at Levi’s words, realizing the selfishness of his own self doubt. If Levi believed in him, who was he to say he was unworthy? Determined to silence the rush of negative thoughts, Eren took three steady and long strides before launching himself at the dragon to hook his hands around Levi’s massive neck. “I would be honoured to wear your colours,” he amended, holding on tightly as he hugged the dragon, a glimmer of tears lining the edges of his eyes as he was overcome with emotion. “This I promise to you. I will defeat Grisha. You will be my mate. I will spend a long life by your side,” the young man vowed, smiling as he rubbed his face into Levi’s, smearing the salt of his tears across the midnight of the dragon’s scales, “I love you, Levi.” 

_That’s more like it brat,_ Levi hummed, wrapping his clawed forelegs in around the boy and holding him there, inhaling his familiar and pleasant scent overlaid with the possessive brand of his own, _Though it must be obvious by now, you have proven yourself worthy of my heart little tempest and I have come to love you as I have loved no other. We will taste victory together._

**Author's Note:**

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